Tesla is dumping Mobileye???

[S4WRXTTCS]

Over the long haul I think this will work out great.

One of the problems right now with the Tesla Model S is it's really a bunch of third party solutions mashed together.

In Model S/X

You have Mobile Eye for the Image Processing for Autopilot
You have Google for the online maps
You have Garmin/Navigon maps for the offline maps
You have a really old Nvidia Tegra solution for the Infotainment
The rear camera doesn't go to anything, but the infotainment 17 inch display
The front camera isn't viewable in the infotainment display
There is no dashcam capabilities

It's really quite limited so it would be nice to see them switch to a more integrated solution. You still want to keep separation between infotainment and critical functionality, but where things were duplicated (like the signals from the cameras going to both the infotainment system and the autopilot computer).

 

[Alketi]

What Geo Hotz thinks about Mobileye and who called it quits:

In the wake of a fatal crash, Tesla will quit using Mobileye's chips for Autopilot vision

I just watched an interview with George that covered a number of topics, but one interesting tidbit was that he said the MobileEye camera (that's in Tesla vehicles) is a RCC (Red-Clear-Clear), which sheds more light on why it wasn't able to discern a white truck against a bright (possibly blue) sky. Since the camera is monochrome it sees shading and contrast as opposed to color.

There's just no way Tesla can be reliant on a single, 3rd party vendor for such a critical component like it's autopilot hardware suite and processors. No question in my mind it was Tesla who walked away.

 

[Tam]

...Changing the field of view is a matter of changing a cheap lens and perhaps some trivial parameters in the software. Changing the dynamic range is a matter of changing the camera, which I'm sure is outsourced, to one with a different spec. Not a big deal.

It might be the processing capability.

A camera may supply all the beautiful colors of the light spectrum but Mobileye can only process red and gray intensity which explained why it can't see a big white semitrailer against a brightly lit sky.

 

[dakh]

Looks to me Tesla's plan was to end the partnership at some point. The accident probably put some real issues into focus that made it necessary to have this announced publicly. I hope what Elon is saying is true, that this doesn't throw Tesla's progress back.

 

[laorient]

I think there are 3 main reasons for the breakup:
1. MobileEye wants to keep the TDP low while increasing processing power, to cater to ICE customers also. But Tesla has less concern on TDP and want to go full autonomous fast. This means their goals are not perfectly aligned.
2. MobileEye has a lot of "legacy" platforms to support, which means they probably can not turn to things such as Full Color Camera, Stereotypical Vision quickly since these will render "legacy" systems to be obsolete. But Tesla is willing to sacrifice their older platforms, as they have repeatedly done.
3. Tesla has the unique advantage of high speed, constant connection with their cars, with rapid update capability, which none of the other MobileEye customers has. This again allows Tesla to collect more data and evolve status quo quicker, while MobileEye is having a hard time catching up to them.
Elon Musk is very far-sighted, and he had wisely decided to NOT share the data collected from Model S/X with MobileEye, which means the in house DNN Tesla trains currently maybe leaps and bounds ahead of MobileEye now. And that's when Elon says: "So long, and thanks for all the fish.".

 

[h_corey]

As an aside, I believe intel wants to buy mobileye to get a bigger foot in the door of the next 'mobile' device trend.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Suggest changing the thread title...

It was MobilEye who dumped Tesla. Not the other way around. MobilEye opted not to renew Tesla's contract, citing concerns with Tesla's implementation of Autopilot using sensors that were never designed to handle a lateral crash such as the one that occurred recently resulting in the death of a Tesla owner.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2016/07/26/mobileye-and-tesla-part-waysamid-autopilot.html

 

[Lex]

Yep it seems that MobilEye are the ones making the move to not continue "past the current line of products" according to Amped's cited article, which could mean all of Autopilot 1.0, and as everyone seems to think that Autopilot 2.0 is autonomous anyway, it seems they've left the door open to re-enter... ???

So if they continue to supply for AP 1.0 and are then interested in AP 2.0 then I'm not sure what changes. Seems like they're trying to distance themselves from a single tragedy from what is "possibly / allegedly" looking like negligent drivers and/or an incapacitated driver.

But if they're pulling out of what they're already in, then I surely see why Elon and Co. are so interested in keeping everything in-house, as "turning off" MobilEye in our AP systems today turns it back into just TACC. MobilEye is a big part of AP from what I know. I wonder if the "surge" in AP related coders was all about replacing MobilEye. Maybe the writing was already on the wall.

 

[182RG]

Mobileye is moving forward with BMW and Intel.

Mobileye Curtailing Tesla Autonomous Relationship In Favor Of BMW, Intel

 

[Alketi]

Interesting. I would not have expected MobileEye would be the one to turn away business. Usually the vendor doesn't leave the parent.

Reading between the lines, MobileEye's story seems to be that they don't like the fact that Tesla is controlling the implementation (re: software).

I wonder how this impacts AP 2.0. If Tesla anticipated this or it was mutual, then they'd have already been spec'ing other non/MobileEye hardware.

Lastly, this certainly puts the emails between Elon and George Hotz in a new light. I wonder if the MobileEye relationship became strained when those emails leaked publicly.

 

[Twiglett]

I would suspect the fact that MobileEye were not getting any of the telemetry and mapping data from Tesla was a big issue for them. Tesla has a huge advantage that would be holding back MobileEye and the others.

 

[Waiting4M3]

Aside: This doesn't seem to make sense in an X subforum vs Tesla overall one.

Well who will Tesla turn to? Mobileye was the king and various other companies are using them.

related keyword didn't help me search.

related:www.mobileye.com link related:www.mobileye.com - Google Search

In 2015 Mobileye announced that EyeQ4 wasn't going to be ready until 2018
Moving Closer to Automated Driving, Mobileye Unveils EyeQ4® System-on-Chip with its First Design Win for 2018

Tesla hired Jim Keller and Peter Bannon in Jan-Feb 2016, who were with PA Semi, which Apple bought to design A4/A5 chips for their iPhone
The chip guru who built Apple’s Ax microprocessors joins Tesla to lead the Autopilot Hardware Engineering team
Tesla hires yet another chip architecture titan out of Apple’s PA Semi, feeding the rumor that it plans to design its own silicon

Then rumor had it that Elon visited Mobileye in early March 2016
Elon Musk reportedly visited Mobileye to test tech for next gen Tesla Autopilot

I think it's pretty easy to guess what happened. Elon wasn't happy with the EyeQ4 2018 roadmap, hired guys for in-house plan-B, then met with Mobileye to start the divorce proceedings, we just now learned that all the divorce papers have been signed.

 

[plankeye]

From that Bosch video, looks like Tesla doesn't need them anyway. Plus, ME might have been slowing them down. They most likely just need a fairly high horsepower processor to go with the software they already have and are continuing to improve.

 

[Odebek]

I am sure it is just MobileEye saving face, part of the negotiation was that they get to announce that they are cancelling the contract. Tesla is a small part of their overall sales, because Tesla only buys the chips and not the software/services; but the contract with Tesla is what brought them to prominence, so it is important that they be seen as the entity ending the contract, otherwise they would have taken a bigger stock hit.

Also, TSLA has been busy buying up AP hardware talent so it was part of the strategy to part ways on their part: Tesla poached a team of chip architects and execs from AMD to develop the next gen Autopilot

 

[hybridbear]

This seems quite surprising considering past statements about how crucial Mobileye's technology was. In one article I researched again this afternoon, Elon said that Mobileye's technology is the best in the world & that is why Tesla uses their tech. I wonder who will supply the AP camera & chip now.

 

[hybridbear]

It's Mobileye that ended the relationship according to this article.

 

[3Victoria]

It is unclear who did the leaving, perhaps it was mutual. Both parties would like to save face. MobilEye felt they were at risk for bad publicity when they were not in control of how their systems were used. Tesla wants to move quickly, and doesn't what to use a generic system that is shared by other manufacturers. I think Tesla will push things along for their cars and maintain their lead, and MobilEye will provide reliable systems to the other manufacturers. Win win. (I am impressed by both companies.)

 

[Hodginator]

Maybe they will switch to the Nvidia DRIVE PX solution. Hasn't that been a rumor for a while?

 

[sillydriver]

It is unclear who did the leaving, perhaps it was mutual. Both parties would like to save face. MobilEye felt they were at risk for bad publicity when they were not in control of how their systems were used. Tesla wants to move quickly, and doesn't what to use a generic system that is shared by other manufacturers. I think Tesla will push things along for their cars and maintain their lead, and MobilEye will provide reliable systems to the other manufacturers. Win win. (I am impressed by both companies.)

I think your view is exactly right. Tesla sees autonomous driving as one of their core differentiators and won't tolerate being generic. But there are plenty of established car companies that see it as a checklist capability to be outsourced. Mobileye's potential sales into that group are quite large.

 

[Tam]

BRIEF-Tesla's Musk on Mobileye our parting ways was inevitable


Elon Musk comments on Tesla discontinuing Mobileye’s Autopilot system, says it doesn’t affect timeline

“This was expected and will not have any material effect on our plans. MobilEye’s ability to evolve its technology is unfortunately negatively affected by having to support hundreds of models from legacy auto companies, resulting in a very high engineering drag coefficient. Tesla is laser-focused on achieving full self-driving capability on one integrated platform with an order of magnitude greater safety than the average manually driven car.”