Mobileye, an Intel company, announced its new True Redundancy sensing system operating hands-free in Israel on April 12. The company said it is a major milestone in preparation for the debut of its planned robotaxi services in Israel and Germany. The below unedited video shows the vehicle operating in autonomous mode while mimicking the multi-stop behavior of a ride-hailing service with humanlike skill, according to the announcement.

The video shows the Mobileye AV going through the motions of a robotaxi service, driving to multiple destinations and pausing where it might pick up and drop off passengers. The capabilities of True Redundancy, Mobileye’s alternative approach to autonomous vehicle (AV) sensor fusion, are on full display as the Mobileye AV robotaxi navigates the complex streets of Jerusalem at night. While previous videos have shown the AV driving only with the camera subsystem, this video comes from the fully configured AV that Mobileye is planning to use in commercial robotaxi deployments.  

True Redundancy is Mobileye’s approach to environmental sensing whereby two independent subsystems – one camera-only and the other a lidar-radar combination – each serve as backups to each other instead of as complementary systems. The result is a sensing solution believed to deliver a higher mean time between failures, Intel stated. Prototype AVs now driving in Israel are Mobileye’s first to combine the two systems in a single vehicle, demonstrating how the robotaxi is expected to perform in real-world operations.

In the video, the Mobileye AV is seen completing complex, real-world driving maneuvers despite harsh nighttime roadway lighting and complicated road signs. 

“Mobileye Drive with True Redundancy defies industry norms with separate sensing subsystems that act as backups to one another," said Johann Jungwirth, vice president of mobility-as-a-service at Mobileye. "The very normal way in which the vehicle navigates very complex scenarios proves the value in this approach.”

Building on the capabilities of Mobileye’s camera-first AV development fleet, the addition of radar-lidar to its sensor suite is the final piece to achieving what the company set out to do with its differentiated AV technology. Operationalizing the True Redundancy system is a crucial milestone toward Mobileye’s planned robotaxi service scheduled for later this year in Germany and Israel. Mobileye has started the permit and regulatory approval process in both countries to enable the company to begin removing safety drivers on public roads.