Mobileye & Delphi to Co-develop Autonomous Vehicle System

Mobileye & Delphi announced a partnership to co-develop a complete SAE Level 4/5 automated driving solution by 2019, earlier than many OEMs who have released dates of 2021 or later. The end-to-end, production ready “Central Sensing Localization and Planning” (CSLP) platform will allow seamless integration into a wide range of vehicle models in order to bring automation to market faster at lower development cost levels. The pair will demonstrate the CSLP platform at CES 2017. Like many other autonomous vehicle announcements, it falls short of fully driverless, “unmanned” operation.

The solution combines Mobileye’s EyeQ 4/5 System on a Chip (SoC) sensor fusion solution, deep reinforcement learning, and Road Experience Management (REM) system with Delphi’s Path and Motion Planning software algorithms, acquired from Ottomatika, and its Multi Domain Controller (MDC), including the camera, radar and LiDAR portfolio. The inclusion of the LiDAR is remarkable, but has been described as “operating as a redundant sensor”.

Delphi and Mobileye have been partnering on active safety systems since 2002.

Delphi has been actively exploring driverless technology with multiple trials and projects:

• Autonomous Audi SQ5 test drive from San Francisco to New York City (2015 NY Auto Show)
• Deployment of shared driverless car fleet for Singapore’s mobility-on-demand trial program, with operational service planned by 2022

However, while Delphi is a strong player in ADAS, they have failed to capture interest from car manufacturers for autonomous vehicle projects. Automotive OEMs are increasingly turning directly to silicon and software vendors with strong IP. Delphi must have deemed it critical to partner with one of these vendors in order to get closer to OEMs and stay engaged. Other Tier 1’s like Harman and Continental have gone down the acquisition road to remain relevant.

The aim to build a “plug and play”, “off the shelf” autonomous system a significant number of vehicle models can integrate by 2019 seems over-ambitious, if not impossible. Autonomous technology deeply connects to all essential vehicle subsystems, the architecture of which will not have been sufficiently adapted to accommodate a turn-key solution in a reliable and secure way by 2019.

On the other hand, Delphi and Mobileye partnering on developing a “”common” driverless platform layer might ultimately benefit a still very fragmented automotive industry. How automotive OEMs, eager to differentiate their driverless solutions from each other, will receive their approach, remains to be seen.

In the past months, announcements of autonomous vehicle technology partnerships have followed in quick succession:

However, at the same time, some partnerships are falling apart. Mobileye and Tesla confirmed the end of their cooperation during a press conference. On the other hand, organizations like Tesla, Toyota, and Apple seem to be steering towards in-house development. Clearly, the autonomous vehicle technology ecosystem is in flux amidst an acquisition and partnership arms race against time.

• Volvo and Uber are partnering on a US$300 million driverless vehicle project
• The BWM, Intel, and Mobileye autonomous car partnership
  • Mobileye describes the Delphi partnership as complementary, it adding the missing Tier 1 in the supply chain
• Ford announced fully driverless vehicle by 2021, developed in cooperation with Velodyne, Nirenberg Neuroscience, SAIPS, and Civil Maps at various levels of acquisition, investment or licensing
• FCA’s and Hyundai’s anticipated partnership with Google

However, at the same time, some partnerships are falling apart. Mobileye and Tesla confirmed the end of their cooperation during a press conference. On the other hand, organizations like Tesla, Toyota, and Apple seem to be steering towards in-house development. Clearly, the autonomous vehicle technology ecosystem is in flux amidst an acquisition and partnership arms race against time.