MobilEye is a company based in Israel that develops self-driving car technology. It used to supply Tesla with the bits and pieces that powered its Autopilot semi-autonomous driving features but the two companies later had a falling out. It then teamed up with Intel to work on BMW’s iNext self-driving platform. Intel must have liked its work because it has decided to acquire MobilEye for $15.3 billion.
Both companies have confirmed that the acquisition is going through and that the price has been set at $15.3 billion. Intel and MobilEye have already been working together on BMW’s iNext autonomous driving platform which the German car manufacturer wants to put into service in less than five years.
The technology that Intel and MobilEye are working on won’t just be limited to BMW cars, though. They’re actually building a scalable architecture that can be used by any other car manufacturer that doesn’t want to build a similar system from scratch.
As Intel’s chip business continues to come under pressure due to falling PC sales, the company has been looking for growth elsewhere, from devices like wearables to connected homes and Internet of Things devices.
Given that autonomous driving is expected to play a major role in our future it makes sense for Intel to pick up one of the companies that’s doing so much work to make that future a reality.
BREAKING: Intel to acquire Mobileye for $63.54 per share in cash, or about $15.3 billion. $INTC $MBLY
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