ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab Israel Ltd commenced operation at the beginning of 2018 and has since made excellent connections in Tel Aviv’s local start-up and tech scene. Together with great partners, the spin-off of the Prague-based ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab – which was set up by ŠKODA AUTO and its Israeli importer, Champion Motors – has been developing a multitude of different digital mobility services as well as IT technologies including innovative hardware and software solutions. In his speech at the Smart Mobility Summit in Tel Aviv, ŠKODA CEO Bernhard Maier announced that the joint venture has been able to agree on further collaborations in Tel Aviv’s start-up scene.
At the Smart Mobility Summit, ŠKODA AUTO CEO Bernhard Maier emphasised, “The finishing-line photo that we have defined as part of our 2025 Strategy shows ŠKODA as the ‘Simply Clever company for the best mobility solutions’. We are pressing ahead with the digital transformation across the entire business and are now also bringing the first projects that we’ve developed in collaboration with Israeli tech start-ups onto the roads and into our customers’ devices.”
Chief Digital Officer at ŠKODA AUTO, Andre Wehner, added, “We are consistently using the ideas of start-ups to implement our strategy for mobility and digitalisation. At the same time, our labs offer start-ups the ideal setting to develop interesting ideas and projects. We support the implementation of these with our expertise.”
The recently launched Citymove app, for example, will always know the fastest and most convenient route to the destination: users can compile, book and pay for the best mix of mobility options. The app is about to use Anagog’s AI software, which is unique among its competitors and can also be used to predict when parking spaces will become free as well as to personalise services. In July 2018, ŠKODA AUTO acquired a stake in the start-up, allowing ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab to further expand its range of customised mobility services.
The collaboration with the Israeli IT security experts at XM Cyber is already highly successful and is now entering its second year: the cyber security technology developed there is already being used in ŠKODA’s internal IT processes.
As a hotspot for young entrepreneurs and the IT experts of tomorrow, Israel, and the Tel Aviv-Jaffa metropolitan region in particular, provides great potential for numerous other profitable collaborations and successful projects. There are currently around 640 start-ups and research teams in Israel working on automotive projects – that is seven times as many as in 2013.
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SOURCE: ŠKODA
