Engineering news
Mobileye – which accounts for 70% of the global market for advanced driver-assistance and anti-collision systems – offers a range of technology and services including sensor fusion, mapping, front- and rear-facing cameras.
In January, Mobileye announced it was developing a test fleet of autonomous cars with BMW and Intel. Meanwhile, Tesla began incorporating its technology into Model S cars in 2015.
Founded in 1999, Mobileye has used STMicroelectronics to produce chips which its sells to many of the world’s top car manufacturers for its current, third-generation of driver-assistance systems. However, while working with BMW, it teamed up with Intel for its fifth-generation of chips that aim to be used in fully-autonomous vehicles and are scheduled to be delivered around 2021.
"Mobileye brings the industry's best automotive-grade computer vision and strong momentum with automakers and suppliers," Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich said in a statement.
"Together, we can accelerate the future of autonomous driving with improved performance in a cloud-to-car solution at a lower cost for automakers."
The transaction extends Intel’s strategy to invest in data-intensive market opportunities that build on the company’s strengths in computing and connectivity from the cloud, through the network, to the device.
Intel expects the driverless market to be worth as much as $70 billion by 2030.
Ziv Aviram, Mobileye co-founder, president and chief executive, said that by pooling infrastructure and resources, the companies can enhance and accelerate their know-how in the areas of mapping, virtual driving, simulators, development tool chains, hardware, data centres and high-performance computing platforms. “Together, we will provide an attractive value proposition for the automotive industry,” he added.
In October, Qualcomm unveiled a $47 billion deal to acquire NXP, the largest automotive chip supplier, putting pressure on other chipmakers seeking to make inroads the autonomous vehicle market.
The Qualcomm-NXP deal, which will create the industry's largest portfolio of sensors, networking and other autonomous driving elements, is expected to close later in 2017.