Riders will be able to access the service via the Moovit app as well as the SIXT app. The autonomous robotaxi offering will be included in SIXT’s holistic mobility platform ONE, which combines in just one app products for ride hailing as well as car rental, car sharing and car subscriptions. By integrating the services of cooperation partners like Mobileye, the ONE mobility platform gives SIXT customers worldwide access to more than 200,000 vehicles, 1,500 cooperation partners, around 1.5 million drivers and soon even robotaxi services.

The autonomous robotaxi option will be part of the ride-hailing service SIXT ride and was demonstrated during Alexander Sixt’s keynote walk-on. Mobileye also unveiled the vehicles – branded with MoovitAV and SIXT – that will be produced in volume and used for the robotaxi service in Germany. It is the first time Mobileye has publicly displayed its fully integrated self-driving system, known as Mobileye Drive™, in a vehicle that will be used for commercial, driverless ride-hailing services.

A recently enacted autonomous vehicle (AV) law permits driverless vehicles on German roads, allowing Mobileye robotaxis to begin early-rider testing on Munich streets in 2022. The fleet will thereafter move from test to commercial operations upon regulatory approval. Gelsinger said:

“Germany has shown global leadership toward a future of autonomous mobility by expediting crucial AV legislation,” 

Alexander Sixt, Co-CEO of Sixt SE, added:

“This strategic collaboration is the next step in expanding our integrated mobility platform ONE and underlines our company’s evolution towards becoming the industry’s leading provider of innovative and digital premium mobility. We are delighted to leverage the remarkable technology leadership of Mobileye to bring driverless mobility to customers in Germany and beyond.”

Mobileye will own the robotaxi fleet used in the Munich service, while SIXT will draw upon its established expertise in providing, maintaining and operating the fleet. The vehicles will include the MoovitAV service and SIXT branding once the service launches in Munich, to make it easy for customers to distinguish between traditional ride-hailing and the autonomous fleet vehicles.

Gelsinger described the situation as both a massive challenge and enormous opportunity – and the perfect time for Intel to step up to the plate.

“This new era of sustained demand for semiconductors needs bold, big thinking,” said Gelsinger. “As CEO of Intel, I have the great privilege to be in a position to marshal the energies of 116,000 employees and a massive chip-design and manufacturing ecosystem, to meet the demand.”

Intel Investment in Europe

To make his point, Gelsinger reminded the audience that Intel has plans to build at least two new leading-edge semiconductor factories in Europe with plans for future investments that could reach 80 billion euros over the next decade. He also detailed elements of the company’s previously announced IDM 2.0 strategy and shared how those programs will apply specifically for the automotive and mobility industries in the European Union.

Intel Foundry Services, announced in March, is actively engaged in discussions with potential customers in Europe – including automotive companies and their suppliers. Today, the majority of automotive chips are manufactured using legacy process technologies. As automotive applications transition to rely on more high-performance processing, chips are also beginning to migrate to more advanced process technologies. Intel is partnering with leading automotive players and committing significant resources in Europe to help drive this transition around the globe in the coming years. The company announced plans today to establish committed foundry capacity at its fab in Ireland and launch the Intel Foundry Services Accelerator to help automotive chip designers transition to advanced nodes. For this, the company is standing up a new design team and offering both custom and industry-standard intellectual property (IP) to support the unique needs of automotive customers.

Mobileye: From the Garage to the Streets

To emphasize Intel’s commitment to the promising future of self-driving, Gelsinger welcomed Mobileye CEO Amnon Shashua via a video segment. Shashua outlined Mobileye’s approach to both the driver assistance and autonomous driving opportunities. He described the sensing configuration, which aims for both scale and safety at all levels of autonomy, and stated that, like Intel, Mobileye shares “the dream of autonomy – anywhere, anytime, for everybody,” and is leading the industry with solutions that will help realize those dreams.

Keynote attendees were treated to the unveiling of Mobileye’s first production AV equipped with the Mobileye Drive self-driving system and bearing the MoovitAV services branding.

“Mobileye is passionate about bringing autonomous vehicles to consumers,” Shashua said. “The new Mobileye AV, accessible through the MoovitAV service, is an important milestone on the way to a driverless world.”

Speaking in front of a largely German audience, Gelsinger emphasized Germany’s first-mover status on AV regulation, citing the law passed earlier this year that enables commercial operation of driverless AV services. The new law enables Mobileye to bring autonomous ride-hailing into operation with Munich-based Sixt SE starting in 2022. Intel and Mobileye believe that autonomous vehicles will take off in places with the right regulatory framework in place, and Germany’s action provides a strong blueprint for other countries to enable the industry to move toward the promise of full autonomy.

IEEE AV Safety Standard in Final Stages

Intel Fellow and Mobileye Vice President of Automotive Standards Jack Weast joined Gelsinger on stage to discuss the recently completed draft of IEEE 2846. Expected to be an approved standard by the end of the year, IEEE 2846 will be the first AV safety standard to address the question,

“How safe is safe enough?” 

Weast explained that IEEE 2846 was initiated following Mobileye’s pioneering Responsibility-Sensitive Safety (RSS) model published in 2017 that formalizes the reasonably foreseeable assumptions humans make every day and that AVs need to make in order to balance risk and usefulness.

“IEEE 2846 will give regulators the essential tool they need to welcome AVs to roads everywhere,” said Weast.

Gelsinger shared his thoughts on returning to lead the company, saying:

“As the incoming CEO, I am just really thrilled that we have the opportunity to take this great icon of a company, this company that has been crucial to every aspect of technology, and have it be that leader again into the future. Because I believe that Intel has a treasure trove of technologists, of technology, and ultimately its core DNA is being that technology leader for the future. I’m just thrilled as a technologist, as a geek at heart, to be able to be in that leadership role to help bring the passions, the history, the opportunity of this great company forward as never before. Our best days are in front of us.”