Porsche
Future production Porsches will use an advanced sensor suite from Mobileye, the two companies announced on Tuesday. Called “SuperVision,” it uses a mix of cameras and radar sensors and will enable a range of advanced driver-assistance systems (better known as ADAS) in coming models, including functions like hands-free traffic jam assists.
You may be familiar with Mobileye from its relationship with Tesla; the electric vehicle maker was one of its many customers for vision-based ADAS systems, which Tesla then started tweaking to turn into Autopilot. That relationship ended in a high-profile spat in 2016, with the Israeli technology company accusing Tesla of being cavalier with safety—a reasonable accusation in light of the many open federal safety investigations into Tesla’s driver assists.
The following year, Mobileye was bought by Intel and has continued to be the largest player in the ADAS market.
Despite the name, SuperVision isn’t just camera-based, although it includes 11 cameras in addition to both parking and long-range radar. SuperVision also includes a driver-monitoring system and Mobileye’s latest EyeQ 6 system-on-a-chip to make sense of all that input.
Features it will provide to help supervise the driving experience include automated parking, navigation following, and even evasive maneuvers in an emergency.
“In most situations, drivers will continue to want to drive a Porsche themselves in the future—and will be able to do so at any time,” said Michael Steiner, a board member for research and development at Porsche and head of development at the Volkswagen Group. “This said, there are certain aspects of partially automated driving that we are interested in. Intelligent systems like Mobileye SuperVision technology can aid the driver in everyday situations, for example by not having to keep their hands on the wheel the entire time in traffic jams.”
“We are excited to collaborate with Porsche on bringing the next generation of driving technology to customers worldwide,” said Amnon Shashua, president and CEO of Mobileye. “We share Porsche’s goal of improving the driving experience through world-class technological innovation. Mobileye SuperVision system was designed to enhance safety through the synergetic interaction of driver and vehicle, as well as enhance the driving experience itself, by giving drivers greater freedom to choose how they want to engage with the road and when they want to let the vehicle handle basic driving tasks.”
Porsche is not the only part of the Volkswagen Group to partner with Mobileye to use SuperVision. Reuters reports that VW Commercial Vehicles—which makes the adorable VW ID. Buzz, due in the US next summer—will also use Mobileye tech.
The VW Group (including VW Commercial Vehicles) had been working with Argo AI to develop autonomous driving technology but, together with Ford, pulled its investment last October, shuttering the startup. Since then, the VW Group has started with Bosch, Qualcomm, and Horizon Robotics on automated driving technology.
