Autonomy on demand: Mobileye and Delphi team to develop a universal autonomy kit for cars

23 August, 2016

The kit will combine Mobileye’s sensing and mapping systems with Delphi’s driving software algorithms. The kit is scheduled for release as soon as 2019. Mobileye’s stock surged by more than 8% following the announcement

The kit will combine Mobileye’s sensing and mapping systems with Delphi’s driving software algorithms. The kit is scheduled for release as soon as 2019. Mobileye’s stock surged by more than 8% following the announcementDELPHI

Israeli Mobileye and Delphi, one of the world’s leading automotive electronic components manufacturer, announced a strategic cooperation in the development of fully autonomous driving system. The system to be developed by the two companies is planned as a kit, which could be installed on any car,thus  saving the need to develop a fully autonomous car from scratch. The system will be unveiled early in 2017 at the CES exhibition. Mobileye and Delphi intend to distribute it by 2019.

The concept presented by the two companies is similar to American Otto – a company producing autonomy kits for truck. Otto has just been acquired by UBER (see our featured story) for $680 million. While the leading auto manufacturers such as Ford, Volkswagen, Tesla and others are building cooperation’s with technology providers and designing their unique autonomous vehicle models, Mobileye and Delphi’s kits are aimed at middle scale and small scale manufacturers, who can’t join the race to autonomy by themselves.

Mobileye and Delphi’s system aims to provide a “shelf system” which could be used by a wide veraiety of automotive manufacturers, wishing to “autonomize” their models. While the system is scheduled for distribution as soon as 2019, it is important to remember that the integration of the system takes some two years, so this early date is somewhat misleading, and does not constitute a break with “traditional” autonomy schedules.MOBILEYE

The automated driving solution will be based on key technologies from each company. These include Mobileye’s EyeQ® 4/5 System on a Chip (SoC) with sensor signal processing, fusion, world view generation and Road Experience Management (REM™) system, which will be used for real time mapping and vehicle localization. Delphi will incorporate automated driving software algorithms from its Ottomatika acquisition, which include the Path and Motion Planning features, and Delphi’s Multi Domain Controller (MDC) with the full camera, radar and LiDAR suite.

Automatic negotiations

In addition to each company’s “dowry”, teams from both companies will develop the next generation of sensor fusion technology as well as the next generation human-like “driving policy.”  This module combines Ottomatika’s driving behavior modeling with Mobileye’s deep reinforcement learning in order to yield driving capabilities necessary for negotiating with other human drivers and pedestrians in complex urban scenes.

“The Mobileye and Delphi relationship started in 2002 with the implementation of what was one of the most advanced active safety systems of the time. Our long history together is key to the success of this ambitious endeavor,” said Professor Amnon Shashua, Mobileye Chairman and Chief Technology Officer. “Our partnership with Delphi will accelerate the time to market and enable customers to adopt Level 4/5 automation without the need for huge capital investments, thereby creating a formidable advantage for them.”

Kevin Clark, Delphi President and Chief Executive Officer added that “This partnership will allow us to give our customers an increased level of automated capabilities faster and more cost effectively. The collective expertise of our two organizations will accelerate the creation of new approaches and capabilities that would likely not have been possible working alone. This is a win-win for both companies and our customers.”

Following the joint announcement made by the two companies, Mobileye’s stock surged by up to 8%, crossing the $10 billion market cap mark.

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Posted in: Automotive , Autonomous Car , Deals and Investments , ElectroOptics , News

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