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Chip maker continues expansion into burgeoning connected car market.
Intel on Monday continued its push into the connected car market by agreeing a $15 billion (€14.07 billion) deal to acquire Mobileye.
Israel-based Mobileye specialises in collision-avoidance sensors for vehicles. Intel plans to combine the company with its Automated Driving Group unit; it will remain headquartered in Israel and will be led by Mobileye co-founder and CTO, Amnon Shashua.
"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," said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich.
"Together, we can accelerate the future of autonomous driving with improved performance in a cloud-to-car solution at a lower cost for automakers," he said.
Intel expects the market for vehicle systems, data and services to be worth up to $70 billion by 2030.
With that in mind, the company has been increasing its exposure to the car market.
As well as forming its Automated Driving Group, Intel is also one of the founding members of the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA), an industry group formed in September 2016 that aims to drive the development and uptake of 5G services for connected cars.
In January, Intel also acquired a 15% stake in Here, the mapping specialist formerly owned by Nokia, which now belongs to a group of German car makers.
"We expect the growth towards autonomous driving to be transformative. It will provide consumers with safer, more flexible, and less costly transportation options, and provide incremental business model opportunities for our automaker customers," said Ziv Aviram, co-founder and CEO of Mobileye.
Intel said it expects the deal to close within the next nine months. It will fund the acquisition with cash on hand.
