Mobileye will continue to support and maintain the current Tesla autopilot product plans and to work on improving the performance of EyeQ3 use in Tesla cars, but would not continue beyond the current product cycle.
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Shares of Mobileye, an Israeli maker of driving-assistance chips and software, plummeted on Tuesday after the company said its contract with Tesla Motors would not be renewed after its expiry.
Most major automakers are also looking at autonomous cars.
BlueStar Indexes, which manages a USA -listed Israeli tech fund, said yesterday that Tesla accounted for less than 1% of Mobileye’s current revenue and about 2% of projected 2019 sales.
Speaking to analysts after the report on second-quarter earnings, Mobileye Chief Technical Officer Amnon Shashua indicated that the accident in May led to the ending of the relationship with Tesla.
Some have speculated that the rift between the two companies may be rooted in the fatal May 7 accident involving a Tesla Model S that crashed into a tractor-trailer.
But Tesla isn’t backing down, and believes autopilot is safer than traditional driving. Tesla declined to comment on Mobileye’s disclosure. Tesla has suggested the Autopilot cameras failed to distinguish the white trailer against the sky, while the radar sensors may have misinterpreted it as an overhead sign.
Although the Tesla autopilot system, which takes control of braking and steering in certain circumstances, is less sophisticated than what is envisioned for autonomous cars, its failure was linked to more complex systems of the future.
She said the police force is still considering whether to issue a traffic citation to the truck driver for failing to yield. Just last month, the company declared it had formed a partnership with BMW and Intel to design a system for completely autonomous cars by 2021. Tesla said the auto passed under the trailer, and the bottom of the trailer hit the car’s windshield.
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South Korea’s Kia has pledged to produce a self-driving vehicle by 2020 and General Motors plans to test the technology with ridesharing giant Lyft. “It’s not enough to tell the driver to be alert but to tell the driver why”, he said.
