Top-class E-Mobility Event in Vienna

On October 19, 2017, the AICC (Austrian Israeli Chamber of Commerce), the Blue Minds Company and the ÖAMTC invited to the joint panel event “The Future of Mobility” in the recently opened Start-up Hub „WeXelerate“. One of the evening’s highlights was the keynote speech by Lior Sethon (Deputy General Manager of Aftermarket Devision Mobileye). In the panel discussion afterwards, Lior Sethon, together with mobility experts Walter Kreisel (CEO Kreisel Systems), Hermann Stockinger (CEO EasE-Link) und Thomas Daiber (CEO Hubject Berlin) discussed the topic „Will humans still drive in an autonomous future?“. The event was hosted by Rainer Nowak (editor-in-chief Die Presse) und Alexander Hotowy (CEO accilium).

Successful Israeli Start-up with market-leading technology
During his keynote speech, Lior Sethon presented promising developments for the future of autonomous driving and provided insights into current company projects of mobileye. The Israeli Start-up, which was acquired by Intel for 15.3 Billion Dollars in 2017, represents the main supplier for autonomous driving and is the market leader in the industry. Established with the vision to prevent car accidents, the company’s technology is now capable of recognizing cars and other relevant road users with an accuracy of 99.9%, thereby preventing car accidents successfully.

Autonomous driving involves many challenges
According to Lior Sethon, human driving behavior represents one of the biggest challenges. In order to prevent most of the accidents, the software had to learn how to drive humanly, rather than technically accurate. Thus it was necessary to develop a new form of mapping (REM) next to the standardized technology of GPS, since the current technology was leading to imprecise results. The technology REM, developed by mobileye, is now able to recognize other road users up to 10cm.

Increased safety through After Market Solutions
Besides the development of fully automatic vehicles, Lior Sethon also presented secondary market solutions, providing more safety for vehicles nowadays. The so called „single unit“can be integrated in every vehicle and is significantly lowering the probability of being involved in an accident by providing warning signs. Although 80% of the Israeli cars are equipped with this feature, in Austria there still are less than 10%.

New era through autonomous driving and e-mobility
The implementation of e-mobility is currently experiencing a huge upturn. Walter Kreisel, CEO of Kreisel Systems, is expecting a complete electrification by 2030. In order to realize that, the development of an appropriate charging infrastructure is required. Hermann Stockinger, CEO of EasE-Link, believes this to be a topic for the city centers. The aim is to build up an infrastructure, which is providing the charging of cars while they are parked. According to Lior Sethon, the implementation of autonomous driving is „not a technical matter, but a legal one”. Autonomous driving „could not only change the way we are living, but also the society – it is not a revolution, it is a new era“. However, Thomas Daiber, the CEO of Hubject Berlin, emphasizes, that the political support is also of central importance. To herald a new era, not only courage and trust is required, but also opportunities of deregulations.