Intel Gets Into Self-Driving Car Race: Chip Company Buys Mobileye
Chip maker Intel has just acquired computer vision company Mobileye in an acquisition deal worth around $15.3 billion. The Israel-based company comes with technology and patents on driver assistance and self-driving systems.
While news of the buyout has been circulating as rumors for a while, Mobileye has finally confirmed the news by formally announcing the deal through a statement released on March 13. The company was bought out by Intel with cash for $63.54 per share, getting the chip company an equity value in the computer vision company worth $15.3 billion. The statement was released and covered by an update by Venture Beat.
Mobileye is founded in 1999 and currently develops driving assistance systems for cars, including adaptive cruise control, lane departure and distance detection technologies. The packages developed by the company are in widespread use by car manufacturers, including BMW, Volvo, Buick and Cadillac.
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In July last year, Mobileye, alongside Intel and BMW, has committed to full-scale production of self-driving cars by 2021, and so far no change in plans has been announced since this new development. According to Intel chief executive officer (CEO) Brian Krzanich, "This acquisition is a great step forward for our shareholders, the automotive industry, and consumers," referring to its acquisition of Mobileye.
Krzanic continues, "Intel provides critical foundational technologies for autonomous driving, including plotting the car's path and making real-time driving decisions. Mobileye brings the industry's best automotive-grade computer vision and strong momentum with automakers and suppliers. 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 Intel CEO concludes.
This deal is an important landmark for Intel, as Vox notes in their coverage. The company could be trying to avoid a repeat of the mistake it made a decade ago, when Intel lost the smartphone processor market. Back then, Intel did not make an aggressive move into the mobile device market, eventually ceding the entire segment to the ARM chip standard.
