INTEL

Company buys Moovit transit app for $900 million

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Intel bought the Israeli developer of Moovit transport apps for about $900 million to help it create autonomous taxis that could take to the streets in early 2022, the company said on Monday.
Moovit will remain independent, while its technology and data collected from more than 800 million users in 102 countries will be integrated into Intel's autonomous vehicle unit, Mobileye.
The price paid was almost double the $500 million valuation Moovit received when it last raised investments in 2018.
"Moovit is an acquisition that fills some very critical gaps that we are moving forward," Mobileye Chief Executive Amnon Shashua told Reuters.
The initial goal, he said, was to have a small fleet of driverless taxis in countries like Israel, France and South Korea.
The Moovit app is popular for helping passengers and tourists find the best route to a destination, showing public transport routes, bike paths and ride options.
Once integrated with Mobileye, the app will be a platform for calling autonomous taxis and real-time data will ensure that vehicles are deployed in areas of high demand, said Shashua.
Intel predicts that autonomous taxis will be a $160 billion market by 2030.
The decision to buy now, when much of the world economy is stalled due to the coronavirus pandemic, stems from Mobileye's ability to more accurately predict when its technology will be ready, said Shashua. And the target is 2022.
"For a company like Intel, which has a very orderly plan for how the future should play out, coronavirus should not be a setback. On the contrary, you must look at the crisis and find opportunities," said Shashua.
Moovit raised $133 million from investors like Intel, BMW iVentures and Sequoia Capital. In 2018, it received $50 million in an investment round led by Intel Capital.
Intel has already made significant investments in Israel, including the acquisition of Mobileye for $15.3 billion in 2017. In December, it bought Israeli artificial intelligence company Habana Labs for $2 billion.

by Ari Rabinovitch and Tova Cohen