Microchip giant Intel Corp has acquired Israeli public transit app manufacturer Moovit for around $900 million to enable the company to build autonomous "robotaxis" that could be operational in early 2022, the company disclosed on Monday.
Moovit will remain to be independent entity when incorporating its technology and the data it receives from over 800 million users in 102 nations into Intel's Mobileye self-driving car division headquartered in Israel.
The amount charged was almost double the price of $500 million, when Moovit last secured money in 2018. Intel owned around 7 percent of Moovit through an earlier investment in equity and paid around $840 million in cash to gain full ownership.
Moovit's key product is an urban transportation app that focuses in particular on public transport, and is used by hundreds of millions of users.
At the core of Google's and Apple's mapping software, as well as scooter- and bike-sharing services and ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft, it uses public transit data to provide route planning. But because it operates mainly on crowdsourced information, Moovit can also provide routing for locations where there is no publicly available data.
Moovit is a popular product used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Together with Mobileye's comprehensive mapping and self-driving technology capabilities, the company said they will be able to fast track their timetable to change the future of transport, Amnon Shashua, chief executive officer of Mobileye, said.
Intel purchased Mobileye for $15.3 billion in 2017, and today, 25 manufacturers are using Mobileye in 300 car models. The company's accomplishments included working with Volkswagen to introduce an autonomous electric vehicle ride-hailing service and collaborating with the public transportation of China in an attempt to become autonomous.
As with the recent deal with Habana Labs, Intel already has stakes in Moovit through its venture unit, Intel Capital. In 2018, Intel Capital spearheaded the investment round of the $50 million Series D that priced Moovit at over $50 million. Shashua sits is part of Moovit's board as an observer.
The app will be a forum to order the robotaxis once incorporated with Mobileye, and the actual-time data will guarantee that the vehicles are activated in high-demand areas, Shashua said. Intel expects robotaxis to become a company valued at $160 billion by 2030.
Shashua said the decision to purchase now, when much of the world economy is at a standstill due to the ongoing global health crisis, sprung from Mobileye's capability to predict more precisely when its technology will be ready. The target is 2022.
