Mobileye to Supply Self-driving System to Eight Million Cars

Intel Corp.’s autonomous driving arm Mobileye has entered an agreement to provide its advanced systems for a currently unnamed European automaker, marking as one of the biggest deal to date for the Israeli tech firm.  

Under the terms of deal, eight million cars of the European automaker are expected to have 

Mobileye’s driver assistance and collision avoidance technologies. The value of the agreement has not been revealed.

Mobileye Senior Vice President for Advanced Development and Strategy Erez Dagan stated that the deal with start in 2021, when the EyeQ5 chip for autonomous vehicles is released as an upgrade to the EyeQ4 that will be launched in the coming weeks.

Mobileye Stepping Up its Game

The agreement shows just how car manufacturers and suppliers are stepping up their performance to develop technologies that will automate certain driving tasks to produce profits, while a fully-automated driving system that can adapt to any condition is still years away from its introduction in the market.

As self-driving vehicles become more and more popular, Intel and Mobileye face intense competition from players, including major carmakers Tesla Inc. and Mercedes-Benz, as well as ride-hailing group Uber Technologies Inc. to rollout autonomous cars by next year.

The Jerusalem-based company has partnered up with General Motors Co. for its hands-free driving software called, the Super Cruise.

Mobileye is also working with Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., Audi AG, BMW, Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V, and NIO to provide them with its Level 3 technologies in 2019.

The tech group is believed to hold over 70 percent of market share of the advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) used by 27 million vehicles from 25 different automakers on the road, which means that about 18.9 million cars already have its EyeQ intelligent vision sensing system.

Mobileye chief executive Amnon Shashua expects Mobileye to be installed in more than 100,000 Level 3 vehicles by the end of next year.

Mobileye is currently trying out its more advanced Level 4 technologies in Ford Fusion hybrids, which have been seen to be able to navigate their way through the Jerusalem road in midday traffic without driver interference.

While the Level 4 systems are set to begin production in 2021, the company said several of its technologies are involved in the development of its systems that might be soon be purchased by consumers.  

Shashua also believed that self-driving taxis or robo-taxis will hit the roads around 2021, considering the commitments from automakers.

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