Self-driving cars have been on the cards for a few years now but there has been a lot of talk and not much sign of a real-world solution. This will change in 2019 when Intel, Volkswagen and Mobileye join forces to implement a fleet of self-driving taxis in Israel.
This is one of the first practical examples of Level 4 commercial MaaS – with level 4 describing the type of AI involved (by the Society of Automotive Engineers) as having no human driver with certain parameters, and MaaS ‘being Mobility as a Service’ which is just a fancy way to say selling transport.
Volkswagen will be supplying the cars while Mobileye will be looking after the self-driving technology that will power the cars, which are all reliant on the chips supplied by Intel.
Take a look at our take on AMD vs Intel.
It’s important to note that this collaboration between these entities is non-exclusive which allows each company to pursue different initiatives. This is an interesting nugget of information, and almost certainly insisted upon by Intel as its chips are reported to be the furthest along in this technology so they wouldn’t want to be tied down to a single deal.
Intel’s partnership with BMW, Mobileeye and Fiat Chrysler which is seeking to bring self-driving technology to production vehicles is still very much in place and is targeting a different section of the self-driving market.
Intel is doing its best to place itself very firmly at the centre of the self-driving movement which could be incredibly lucrative in the years to come.