Luminar, that is posied to become a publicly traded firm, Group stuck in a supplier partnership to supply Intel unit Mobileye with lidar for its fleet of driverless cars.
The agreement, will see company partnered with a firm that has ruled the auto sector for a long time. Although the supplier relationship is not close to the scope of the core computer vision sector of Mobileye, it is a significant alliance that stretches beyond a few pilot projects. For almost two years now, Luminar has had a development deal with Mobileye. For both businesses, this proposed agreement represents the next crucial step.
Camera-based sensors from Mobileye are used by most manufacturers to support automated systems of driver assistance. More than 54 million cars today have Mobileye apps. But in recent years, the firm, which Intel purchased for $15.3 billion in 2017, has branched out, heading beyond its sophisticated driver assistance technologies and into creating a self-driving car infrastructure. Mobileye revealed two years ago intentions to launch a package that involves visual vision, fusion of sensors, its REM navigation framework, and software algorithms.
Since then, Mobileye has upgraded its self-driving targets and made what others in the industry see as an unexpected turn to become a robotic taxi operator, not just a manufacturer.
This new partnership would still be a production deal, albeit limited at the moment. Luminar’s lidar will be part of the self driving fleet of first generation Mobileye piloted in Dubai, Tel Aviv, Paris, China and the City of Daegu in South Korea.
The real objective of Mobileye is to extend its robotaxi operations and to market its automated stack to other businesses. Mobileye said the company plans to begin commercial robotaxi services in 2022.
In the meantime, Luminar has entered into other agreements at production level. In May, Volvo announced it would begin production of vehicles fitted with lidar and a Luminar pickup to be used by the automaker to introduce an autonomous highway driving system in 2022.
