The News: This week at CES, Intel’s soon to be spun-off autonomous driving business unit, Mobileye unveiled several new and expanded partnerships to continue to drive the future of autonomous driving forward. Deals with Volkswagen Group, Ford, and Zeekr showcase the depth of Mobileye’s ADAS-to-AV technology. Mobileye also unveiled its first AV-on-chip (AVoC), EyeQ Ultra, which is specifically built for Level 4 autonomous vehicles. Read the full press release here.
Mobileye Driving the Future of Autonomous Driving with Announcements at CES
Analyst Take: Mobileye is shifting 2022 into high gear with the announcements that they made at CES this week. The new and expanded partnerships with automotive giants like Volkswagen and Ford further solidify Mobileye’s positioning in the market as a leading provider of autonomous driving solutions. The company made several key announcements at this year’s event that included the company’s new EyeQ ultra AV-on-chip solution:
- New partnership with Volkswagen to make use of data for better driving experiences. The new deal with Volkswagen Group will allow the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to leverage Mobileye’s mapping data to enhance the ADAS features in several vehicle models globally. Mobileye Roadbook is a crowd-sourced database of high-definition maps that are collected globally. Volkswagen will be able to tap into that database to improve the driving experience via Travel Assist 2.5. Vehicles in the Volkswagen, Skoda, and Seat family will soon be equipped with an unparalleled global and scalable mapping solution. Using real driving data that update automatically over previously generated maps in a car’s infotainment system that might be out of date is a smart step forward for better driving experiences.
- Expanded Ford partnership to improve hands-free driving. Ford and Mobileye have long been partners, but this week they are taking the partnership further. Ford will begin using Mobileye’s Road Experience Management technology in its BlueCruise system which allows drivers to operate vehicles hands-free. The use of Mobileye’s REM technology which utilizes lane-centering and lane-keeping technology will make it easier for Ford drivers to use vehicles hands-free on more roads than before. This will also make driving experiences safer for not only Ford drivers but other drivers on the road as well.
- Expanded partnership with Zeekr to result in first all-all electric vehicle. Zeekr, a global electric mobility technology brand, will further expand its partnership with Mobileye by building an all-electric vehicle with L4 driving capabilities enabled by Mobileye’s suite of technology. This first-of-its-kind L4 vehicle for consumers is expected to debut in China in 2024. We are just two short years away from potentially the first all-electric L4 vehicle for consumers. This could potentially be a major gamechanger for the autonomous vehicle marketplace.
Mobileye’s Biggest Announcement
While the partnership announcements certainly drew attention, I found the most important announcement to be the abovementioned introduction of its AV-on-Chip solution. The introduction of EyeQ Ultra ups the ante as this will be the company’s most advanced system-on-chip for autonomous driving. EyeQ Ultra is a single package SoC supercomputer that will enable better end-to-end autonomous driving. Building on seven previous generations of EyeQ architecture, Mobileye is looking to deliver the performance and power that will be need to power autonomous vehicles of the future. The first silicon for EyeQ Ultra is expected by the end of 2023 with full production by 2025. This builds on the current EyeQ offering that recently surpassed 100 million shipments right around the time when Intel and Mobileye announced the impending spin-off later in 2022. The current success has been based upon a track record of innovation, key OEM partnerships, and the company’s aggressive foray into next generation mobility and fully autonomous robotaxis.
The Next Half Decade Looks Bright
I’ve been bullish about the longer term prospects for Mobileye, and I believe the spin-off will only bring more attention to the company (and unlock value for Intel shareholders). With these announcements and expanded partnerships it’s clear that Mobileye is lining up to bring fully autonomous to fruition within the next half-decade, which almost seems unimaginable when you think about how long updates to vehicles have taken in the past. And I’m sure Mobileye won’t stop there. I’ll be curious to see how other OEMs and the market react to this news and what other partnerships and deals we will see as a result.
Disclosure: Futurum Research is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
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Image Credit: Intel
The original version of this article was first published on Futurum Research.
Daniel Newman is the Principal Analyst of Futurum Research and the CEO of Broadsuite Media Group. Living his life at the intersection of people and technology, Daniel works with the world’s largest technology brands exploring Digital Transformation and how it is influencing the enterprise. From Big Data to IoT to Cloud Computing, Newman makes the connections between business, people and tech that are required for companies to benefit most from their technology projects, which leads to his ideas regularly being cited in CIO.Com, CIO Review and hundreds of other sites across the world. A 5x Best Selling Author including his most recent “Building Dragons: Digital Transformation in the Experience Economy,” Daniel is also a Forbes, Entrepreneur and Huffington Post Contributor. MBA and Graduate Adjunct Professor, Daniel Newman is a Chicago Native and his speaking takes him around the world each year as he shares his vision of the role technology will play in our future.