Amnon Shashua the Co-founder and CTO of Mobileye, announced that they would end their relationship with Tesla Motors at the end of the current EyeQ3's lifecycle.Mobileye will continue to provide technical support of its EyeQ3 processor for the California-based electric-vehicle maker, but won't develop more Autopilot-related products.
Instead, Mobileye will direct more of its resources towards its partnership with BMW and Intel on further developing autonomous-driving features.Shashua didn't quite spell out the reasons for ending the relationship, but the strong hint was that Mobileye is unhappy with Tesla's rush to bring driver-less car technology to market in the wake of a fatal crush of their autopilot system. Tesla is facing more questions about Autopilot and specifically its safety ramifications after a number of Tesla drivers crashed while possibly engaging autopilot. That questioning ratcheted up a notch after a Florida driver was killed in a Tesla Model S in early May when his sedan hit a truck while the car was on Autopilot. US regulators this week said that the preliminary findings were that the driver was speeding.
At press time, Tesla had yet to respond publicly to Mobileye's announcement. The deal's end won't have a major impact on Mobileye's top or bottom lines. But Mobileye had been seen as a key part of the Tesla technology story.
