Car Makers Won't Put Brakes on Autonomous Driving, Mobileye CEO Says
May 05 2020 - 2:50PM
Dow Jones News
By Asa Fitch
Car makers are facing a huge crisis with sales plummeting and
many factories idled, but some of the industry's more futuristic
plans still appear to be on track.
That, at least, is part of Intel's logic behind the company's
move, unveiled Monday, to buy Israeli transportation app maker
Moovit Inc. for $900 million and make it part of Mobileye, the
semiconductor maker's $15 billion bet on autonomous driving.
Mobileye plans to integrate its technology into robo-car systems
being developed by Volkswagen AG, Chinese electric-car maker NIO
Inc. and others.
Some of those systems are set to roll out in cities in 2022,
Mobileye Chief Executive Amnon Shashua said Tuesday. Mobileye
needed a tool like Moovit, which helps users plan trips, giving
them a bird's-eye view of transit options based on real-time data,
to round out its offering, Mr. Shashua said.
Global car sales are expected to fall by 22% this year to 70.3
million, according to market-data tracker IHS Markit. Ford Motor
Co., General Motors Co., Honda Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and
other automakers have shuttered factories and idled hundreds of
thousands of workers as the virus spread.
While the coronavirus may be putting a damper on the industry
now, Mr. Shashua said people will still want to move around and the
appetite for automation will increase when the health crisis
passes. Social distancing could further pique interest in
driverless cars, although he said that wasn't going to be a
long-term driver.
"When we think about things long term--and long term here is
2022--Covid-19 doesn't change the fundamentals," he said.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 05, 2020 14:35 ET (18:35 GMT)
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