Intel has scored a big win with its automotive business Mobileye. A contract has been signed to make Mobileye the supplier of self-driving technologies to eight million cars for a European automaker. Although the terms of the deal are confidential, as is the name of the automaker, this is a large step forward towards commercially available autonomous vehicles.
As manufacturers continue to implement semi-autonomous features into their vehicles such as advanced collision avoidance, automatic braking, and radar-based cruise control, the movement towards full self-driving capabilities is pushing ahead.
Under the deal, Intel will supply its EyeQ5 chip designed for self-driving vehicles beginning in 2021. Erez Dagan, senior vice president for advanced development and strategy at Mobileye, has stated that EyeQ4 will be launching within the next several weeks.
In the race to build a safe and affordable self-driving vehicle, Intel is working on gaining an early market share over rival Nvidia. The Drive PX AI computing platform from Nvidia is already present in Tesla vehicles and has had the advantage of greater real-world testing by end users.
Mobileye is estimating that there will be over 100,000 vehicles carrying Level 3 self-driving classification with their chips installed. Level 3 autonomous vehicles are fully capable of driving under regular conditions but provide up to 10 seconds for a driver to take control in the event that a vehicle is unable to navigate a course.
Even though the automaker that signed the deal with Mobileye remains a mystery, both Audi and BMW currently are working with Mobileye and could be plausible partners.