Intel to acquire driver assistance systems manufacturer Mobileye

Mobileye N.V., whose vehicle-mounted technology is designed to anticipate collisions, has agreed to be acquired by microprocessor manufacturer Intel Corp.

Intel said Monday that one of its subsidiaries “will commence a tender offer” to acquire Mobileye shares for US$63.54 in cash, for an “enterprise value” of about US$14.7 billion.

MobilEye is incorporated in the Netherlands with principal offices in Jerusalem.

Its software and chips “perform detailed interpretations of the visual field in order to anticipate possible collisions with other vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, animals, debris and other obstacles,” states Mobileye.

An acquisition by Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel is “expected to accelerate innovation for the automotive industry and position Intel as a leading technology provider in the fast-growing market for highly and fully autonomous vehicles,” Intel said Monday.

Intel reported net income of US$10.3 billion on revenue of US$59 billion in 2016.

The Mobileye deal has been approved by both firms’ boards and is subject to regulatory approval and other closing conditions.

In its annual report for 2015, Mobileye said its products “were included in serial production vehicle models since 2007.” At the time, Mobileye estimated its products “were installed in approximately 9.7 million vehicles worldwide through December 31, 2015.” At the time, the technology was available in 221 car models from 19 manufacturers.

Mobileye was founded in 1999 by chief technology officer Amnon Shashua and chief executive officer Ziv Aviram.

Intel said Shashua will head Mobileye and Intel’s automated driving group in Israel.

“While fully autonomous driving is not expected in the near future, we believe that there will be ongoing introductions of semi-autonomous driving capabilities,” Mobileye said in its 2015 annual report. “We believe these capabilities which started with hands-free highway driving will gradually extend to other types of roadways, such as country and city driving. ADAS applications that warn, but do not perform a control function, are not, for this purpose, considered automated driving, but they are necessary for effective performance of the control functions.”

Mobileye’s camera-based advanced driver assistance systems provide lane departure warning, forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, pedestrian collision warning and animal detection, among others.