Volkswagen is entering into a strategic partnership with Mobileye, a technology leader in the area of automated image processing. The central focus of the joint venture is camera-based real-time image processing technology which—in conjunction with highly precise digitalized maps—is the key to autonomous driving. Prof. Amnon Shashua, Technical Director and CEO of Mobileye and Dr. Diess, Chairman of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Brand signed a letter of intent to this effect at CES 2016 in Las Vegas. The goal of the joint venture, exclusively for Europe, will be to manage effectively the digital transformation of the automotive industry and develop intelligent surroundings monitoring technologies. The technology business Mobileye develops optical sensor systems, which will be used in the front cameras of Volkswagen products in the future. These systems recognize in real time details of the car's surroundings that are used to continually improve surroundings maps. Based on a large number of vehicles equipped with this technology highly precise and up-to-date information will be generated (swarm data technology). Precise surroundings maps will serve as the foundation for autonomous driving and will further the advanced development of various driver assistance and safety systems.
As part of a growing partnership, General Motors (GM) will integrate advanced mapping technology developed by Mobileye into forthcoming auto launches, the companies announced at CES on Wednesday night. Mobileye's technology aims to improve the precise lane data and driver location for development of self-driving cars, using crowd-sourced, real-time data collected by the user pool to create continuously updated maps. Mobileye calls the technology "Road Experience Management," or REM. Mobileye also announced a strategic partnership with Volkswagen to "explore and integrate" the REM technology in Volkswagen autos and a third original equipment manufacturer customer, of comparable size, is expected to be announced in 2016. Worth noting is Mobileye also has an existing relationship with Tesla, which uses the driver-assistance technology in its vehicles, as well as Audi, BMW, and Ford.