ŠKODA AUTO CEO Bernhard Maier was the keynote speaker this year’s Smart Mobility Summit, held in Tel Aviv on 28-29 October. Maier took the opportunity to highlight ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab Israel’s various contributions to the tech sector since its launch at the beginning of 2018.
“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 startups onto the roads and into our customers’ devices,” Maier said during his keynote address.
One of the biggest projects we are helping to roll out is a new power system for charging electric vehicles from Chakratec. The company has essentially developed a kinetic energy storage system that absorbs peak loads in the grid, making it possible to operate ultra-fast charging stations, even in remote areas.
The eco-friendly Chakratec Kinetic Power Booster also allows for a virtually unlimited number of high-power charge and discharge cycles, as it makes use of a mechanical flywheel instead of chemical batteries. We are excited to announce that the Chakratec Kinetic Power Booster is scheduled to hit the Prague market soon.
Maier was on hand during Chakratec’s big reveal on the second day of the summit to plug in the electric cable from the box to ŠKODA AUTO’s new SUPERB iV plug-in hybrid model.
The Smart Mobility Summit, Israel’s most prominent event relating to new mobility, provided an ideal setting to offer a concrete look ahead at upcoming mobility solutions and new ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab Israel collaborations.
We recently sealed deals on five new collaboration projects: Together with Technical Development at ŠKODA AUTO, Silentium is working on an active noise control system for vehicle cabins to considerably improve the level of comfort while travelling.
We are also working with Neteera. The company is developing an innovative chip located in the driver’s seat backrest. This chip monitors parameters such as breathing and blood pressure, allowing driver fatigue to be detected and an alert to be triggered in a timely manner.
ContinUse Biometrics, meanwhile, is working on an optical sensor, which keeps track of a variety of different physiological metrics, allowing the system to identify changes in driver competence, health and comfort conditions.
We are excited about our partnership with Intervyo, which is opening up new opportunities in a quite different field: the tool makes the job of HR employees easier by checking an applicant’s details for their qualities and skills. It can discover individual strengths or any other valuable experiences in their careers that are not listed in their CVs. The virtual analysis assists in filling vacancies with suitable talent and provides new options.
And finally, in line with the principles of Industry 4.0, Seebo offers intelligent solutions for predictive maintenance as well as quality control.
ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab Israel, a spin-off of ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab Prague, aims to use local knowledge to strengthen ŠKODA AUTO’s development expertise in digitalisation. The joint venture with Israeli ŠKODA AUTO importer Champion Motors works on innovative ideas, assists ŠKODA AUTO in identifying new hardware and software solutions and develops products for the individual mobility of the future.
