Intel, through its subsidiary, Mobileye, has launched an autonomous taxi service in two cities, namely Munich, Germany and Tel Aviv, Israel.
This news was exhibited by Intel at the IAA Mobility 2021 event which was held in Munich, Germany. The autonomous car that Mobileye uses for this service can accommodate six passengers, and will operate from 2022.
The car itself is called AVKIT58, and has eight Mobileye system on a chip (SoC) called EyeQ5. The combination of the SoC makes the AVKIT58 a level 4 and 5 autonomous car, or has the potential to become an autonomous car without having to be accompanied by a guarding driver while operating.
However, until Mobileye gets permission from the German government, their autonomous car will still be equipped with a driver who oversees the operation of the car.
In addition to the SoC, AVKIT58 is also equipped with various combinations of cameras, radar and lidar sensors. The map data comes from Mobileye's Road Experience Management.
The autonomous taxi operates via Moovit, another Intel subsidiary working on transportation technology. Then specifically in Germany, Intel will work with a local company called Sixt. So consumers who use the Mobileye taxi service can place an order via Moovit or Sixt.
In the realm of autonomous cars, Mobileye seems to be something of a competitor to Tesla. Both use similar technology to train artificial intelligence in their autonomous cars.
Mobileye uses lidar in combination with a camera to train its autonomous car to recognize its surroundings. Meanwhile, Tesla uses video to train his artificial intelligence.
Compared to other autonomous car makers, Mobileye does have ambitious plans. They have four different products, with different levels of automation, including the advanced driver assist system (ADAS) currently used by 25 companies.
There are also two products that implement lidar and have more advanced automation technology. Namely Mobileye Drive, an autonomous car system that uses the EyeQ SoC, as well as Road Experience Management crowdsourcing data, which is a 3D map system recorded from a special vehicle belonging to Mobileye.
