Intel has completed the acquisition of Mobileye. Immediately after inking the deal, Intel announced its plan to build and release Level-4 self-driving cars for assessment purposes in Europe, Israel and the US. Intel targets getting the first batch of the autonomous vehicle by the close of the year and continue scaling them up in the outlined regions and others.
The acquisition of Israel-based Mobileye
Earlier in March, Intel announced the intent to acquire Mobileye, the Israel based maker of highly advanced driver-assist systems. In the last couple of years, Mobileye has emerged as a leader in advancing self-driving cars globally with major players expressing interest in a partnership.
Before Mobileye acquisition by Intel, the former was working in partnership with Telsa to drive its Autopilot systems. However, the partnership ended following the death of one of the Telsa’s point men who was heading autonomous car project. The opportunity that Intel had earlier sought brought itself as Mobileye sought a new partner capable of splashing big in the autonomous driving niche.
After closing the deal for $15.3 billion, Intel is now pretty sure that Intel self driving cars will hit the road as soon as possible. The self-driving car market is expected to grow rapidly and surpass $7 trillion in the years to come. Therefore, to capitalize on this and enjoy a bigger share, Intel targets spending $250 million in the next two years in the self-driving cars.
Partnerships with BMW and Delphi to accelerate self-driving cars project
Because of the fast growing competition from other companies such as Google and Uber, Intel has also partnered with other tech companies to stay ahead. It has entered into partnerships with BMW and Delphi that specialize in the supply of highly advanced self driving software.
The Delphi BMW Intel partnership has made it possible to test the self-driving cars in the real-world conditions more realistic. This emboldened the Intel’s objective to work on a self driving car that can be driven anywhere. The first batch of the autonomous vehicle trials will be a BMW 7 Series. The BMW self driving car will be taken through advanced Artificial Intelligence technologies to train and test the ability to respond to various situations.
Applying the latest technologies to design a final self-driving kit
Starting with the BMW autonomous car, Intel anticipates utilizing the Mobileye’s special cameras that had been applied successfully in other models such as the new Audi Q5. The self driving car Intel will also apply the latest image processing capabilities, mapping technologies, and real-time detections that allow them to interact with pedestrians as well as other vehicles.
The ultimate target is creating a complete Intel autonomous driving kit that can be contracted to original equipment manufacturers such as GM and Volvo by 2019. Intel self driving cars will initially be deployed in the state of Arizona that has become one of the main testing regions. Other companies in the auto niche such as Ford and GM are also working on their test fleets and planning to test them in Arizona.
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