Intel's Autonomous Driving Unit Mobileye Confidentially Files for U.S. IPO, Which Could Value the Company at $50 Billion

author: Eric Walz   

Chipmaker Intel Corp plans to take its autonomous driving unit Mobileye public. The chipmaker said on Monday its Mobileye unit has confidentially filed paperwork for an initial public offering in the United States. The planned IPO could value the chipmaker's self-driving car unit at more than $50 billion.

The IPO plans for Mobileye were first announced in December. The move will unlock the value of Mobileye for Intel shareholders by creating a separate publicly traded company, according to Intel, which owns 100% of Mobileye.

Intel did not provide further details about the offering, but has previously said it would receive the majority of the proceeds from its IPO. Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger, said in December that some of the funds will be used to build more Intel chip plants.

Intel will also retain a majority stake in Mobileye after the IPO.

Intel acquired Mobilleye in 2017 for $15.3 billion in its push into the automotive space. 

Mobileye is a developer of computer vision-based perception technologies for advanced driver assist systems (ADAS) and self-driving vehicles. Automated level-2 highway driver features are being offered on a growing number of new vehicles. 

Mobileye developed an entire computer vision-based autonomous driving hardware and software stack for autonomous vehicles called "Mobileye Drive". It's designed to handle a range of autonomous vehicle (AV) applications, including robotaxis, consumer passenger cars and commercial delivery vehicles.

In April of last year, Mobileye announced that its Mobileye Drive will power thousands of autonomous delivery vehicles (ADVs) built by California startup Udelv.

Udelv's driverless cargo vehicles are called "Transporters'' and the two companies plan to produce more than 35,000 of them by 2028, with commercial operations planned for 2023. The driverless vehicles are designed for middle-mile and last mile deliveries. 

The deal is one of the world's largest deployments of autonomous vehicles for commercial purposes.  

The company's perception technology can be used to identify lane markings, traffic signs, pedestrians, bicyclists and other vehicles to help self-driving vehicles safely navigate.

Mobileye's EyeQ4 system-on-a-chip (SoC) is one of the world's most advanced computer vision processors. It can perform complex and computationally intensive computer vision algorithms using minimal power. The EyeQ4 SoC can also process data from multiple vehicle sensors required for semi-autonomous driving. 

To date, Mobileye has shipped more than 100 million computer vision solutions for the ADAS market. Mobileye's automotive customers include German automakers BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, General Motors, Nissan and Honda.

In May of last year, it was reported that Mobileye and automotive technology developer ZF will supply Japan's Toyota with safety technology for its future models. The two companies were chosen by Toyota to develop Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) which will be used in multiple vehicle platforms within several years.

As part of the collaboration, ZF and Mobileye will work closely to produce advanced camera-based computer vision technology integrated with radar from ZF to support ADAS systems in future Toyota vehicles.

Last summer, Mobileye began testing its self-driving technology in New York City, one of the most challenging environments for self-driving vehicles to operate in.

Mobileye said it was testing self-driving vehicles in New York City will prove how well its perception technology can handle the city's chaotic streets packed with vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists, jaywalkers, double parked cars and a host of other challenges that self-driving vehicles will face in the real world.

Last month, Intel announced plans to deploy fully-autonomous passenger shuttles in a new strategic collaboration with Mobileye, Austria-based electric vehicle developer Benteler EV Systems and Florida-based mobility provider Beep.

The three companies will collaborate on the development and deployment of fully electric, autonomous people movers in public and private communities across North America in 2024.

The vehicles will be aimed at first- and last-mile use cases in urban areas, according to Intel. 

Former Mobileye CEO Amnon Shashua said in 2020 that the autonomous driving industry will need to consolidate because it's too difficult for competing companies to develop their own proprietary autonomous driving systems. Mobileye remains well positioned to become a leading supplier of perception technology to the global auto industry. 

The $15.3 billion that Intel paid for Mobileye shows just how valuable the technology is expected to become.

Eric Walz

Originally hailing from New Jersey, Eric is a automotive & technology reporter covering the high-tech industry here in Silicon Valley. He has over 15 years of automotive experience and a bachelors degree in computer science. These skills, combined with technical writing and news reporting, allows him to fully understand and identify new and innovative technologies in the auto industry and beyond. He has worked at Uber on self-driving cars and as a technical writer, helping people to understand and work with technology.