Intel Corp.’s self-driving car technology unit released a 40-minute unedited video Tuesday of a vehicle successfully navigating busy New York City streets.
Mobileye, the business unit creating this technology, is now testing its vehicles in New York including Manhattan, the company said. It’s the latest city for the Israel-based business to test its tech. It has also driven in Munich, Germany, Tokyo and Detroit; as well as cities in Israel and China.
The company confirmed a human driver is always in the driver seat during the testing and can override the car if needed. Mobileye has tested in New York city for six weeks.
Mobileye, which makes advanced driver assist systems, already powers millions of vehicles that offer human drivers alerts coming from sensors that can trigger automatic braking or maintaining a lane. Intel bought the company for $15.3 billion in 2017.
The company uses two independent systems for computer vision redundancy to power its autonomous driving: One uses 12 cameras embedded in the vehicle and the other uses lidar and radar.
The company received autonomous vehicle permits from the state of New York to test its vehicles on city streets in both daytime and night time conditions. Mobileye's vehicles have had to navigate traffic, pedestrians, tunnels and bridges, aggressive driving and everything else New York City can throw at it.
“Driving in complex urban areas such as New York City is a crucial step in vetting the capabilities of an autonomous system and moving the industry closer to commercial readiness,” said Amnon Shashua, senior vice president of Intel and CEO of Mobileye, in a written statement.
Mobileye has been a bright spot for Intel’s business. Last year, it had revenue of $967 million, up 10% year-over-year. In the company’s most recent quarter it had revenue of $377 million, up 48% from the same quarter a year ago.
Wall Street appeared pleased with the announcement on expanded Mobileye testing. Intel’s stock was up more than 1% in afternoon trading.
The company has made several headlines in the last few weeks including news of a further delay in its next generation data center chip Sapphire Rapid, as well as rumors it could buy contract manufacturer GlobalFoundries.
There was also a Data Center Group restructuring and the addition of Andrea Goldsmith, dean of engineering and applied sciences at Princeton University, to the board of directors.
Intel will report second quarter earnings Thursday after the market closes.
