Mobileye From Intel Corp. Partners With Geely For Level 4 Autonomous Car Production In China

Mobileye will produce Level 4 autonomous cars in China. (photo credit: mobileye.com)

JAKARTA - Intel Corp's autonomous vehicle unit, Mobileye, said on Tuesday, January 4 that it plans to work closely with Geely Holding-backed Zeekr to launch the world's first self-driving car by 2024, based in China.

The two companies said at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas that the car will have what automotive engineers call a level 4 autonomous car. in many situations. It will use six Mobileye "EyeQ 5" chips and also use road mapping data from Mobileye.

Intel, hungry for cash to build chip factories and racing to catch up with rivals such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), which has taken over from Intel's lead in making the fastest chips, said last month it planned to issue a portion of Mobileye in an early public offering.

As Reuters reports, Geely, a fast-growing Chinese automaker, has also recently explored making cars in Korea that can be exported to the United States duty-free.

Mobileye also said Tuesday that it was deepening its relationship with Ford Motor Co. The two companies say that Ford will use the Mobileye road mapping data system, which is captured from all vehicles on the road with Mobileye hardware, in Ford's "BlueCruise" version that allows hands-free driving in some situations.

Mobileye said that Volkswagen AG will also start using some of its mapping data products for Volkswagen driver assistance features, such as automatic lane maintenance.

Mobileye on Tuesday also unveiled the next generation of its flagship computer chip, to be called the "EyeQ Ultra" designed to use minimal electricity, which is becoming more important as self-driving systems compete with drive trains for the limited battery capacity in electric vehicles.

The company says that prototype chips will be ready next year, with automotive production of the chips expected to be completed by 2025.