Intel wants a seat in the front row of autonomous vehicle development. After announcing a $250 million self-driving tech investment fund earlier this month, chipmaker Intel has now announced a collaboration with autonomous vehicle systems component firms Mobileye and Delphi and a new Automated Driving Group (ADG), TechCrunch reported.
Two heavy hitters are heading up the ADG. Veteran Intel exec Doug Davis will be the ADG senior vice president and strategic leader — delaying his retirement in order to lead the new group after a 30-year career with Intel — and Delphi’s Kathy Winter will be the group’s vice president and general manager.
TechCrunch noted that the Automated Driving Group was created during an Intel management reorganization indicating the significance of the self-driving technology market to the company.
Intel’s collaboration with auto system supplier Delphi and Israel-based vision system company Mobileye, which will take place within the Automated Driving Group, is focused on developing self-driving systems that can be used by cars and trucks at all price levels, according to The New York Times. A test vehicle demonstrating the collaboration’s platform based on Intel Core i7 processors will be shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.
Intel is already working with automakers BMW, Daimler, Hyundai, Toyota, Tesla, and others, supplying chips used in driver assistance technologies. The dual focus on today’s driver assist features and tomorrow’s autonomous vehicle capabilities means the ADG will be busy with related technologies at different stages in the shift from full driver control to totally driverless vehicles.
“Automated driving is long-term growth opportunity for Intel,” the chipmaker said in a statement about the ADG and company’s vision of the autonomous vehicle market. “We believe there is an incredible opportunity to reinvent the driving experience and it will take a global ecosystem for this vision to come to fruition. The new ADG organization will provide the necessary focus and support for our long-term investments needed for our strategic automated driving endeavors.”
