How Intel is giving sight to driving machines in the age of AI

The partner to acquisition M & A, really is a sight for sore eyes, especially when dealing with such a lucrative future as the autonomous vehicle market. This is a technology business marriage made for the get-go.

Intel buys Mobileye in $15.3B deal

 Mobileye, a leader in computer vision for autonomous driving has just over 600 employees and marks the the biggest-ever acquisition of an Israeli tech company.

Intel is giving sight to machines in the age of AI. Computer vision companies are in hot demand, and this ain't no ordinary acquisition. This puts Mobileye up for $63.54 per share in cash, representing a fully-diluted equity value of approximately $15.3 billion.

Mobileye has technologies implicated in:

• Sensor fusion
• Mapping
• Front-and-rear Facing camera tech
• Crowd-sourcing data from high-def maps (2018)
• Driving policy intelligence
• They actively work with 27 car manufacturers

Intel Had No Choice but to keep up

Intel was under pressure to keep up with the future, as large companies are acquiring teams, talent and startups at record rates. Uber buying Otto and Ford's recent deal with Argo AI are good examples. When Qualcomm acquired automotive chip suppliers NXP late last year for $47 billion, Intel simply had to act or risk being left behind.

Why Intel is paying $15 billion for Mobileye. Think of your future car as a rolling computer. - Recode

Wheels of the ADV Revolution are Turning

Cars are going to be like data-centers on wheels in the future. If Intel provides foundational tech for ADVs (autonomously driving vehicles), Mobileeye brings the CV (computer vision) with an achieving record of the momentum that comes from collaborating with automakers and suppliers. The future of self-driving vehicles has been accelerating for quite some time (no pun intended).

According to Bain & Company, the sector is estimated to be worth $25 billion annually by 2025, with some estimates it would be around a $70 billion industry by 2030.

Companies like Intel and Qualcomm are pivoting, and finding key partners to accelerate into the exponential tech future.

Mobileye is has proven to be a very high-margin chip provider and analysts note that Intel loves high-margin chip businesses. While some question the price and the risk, Intel has paid a fair price. Mobileye has a high-grade R&D unit with multiple future products in the pipeline.

The kind of convergence and consolidation that's taking place for next-gen self-driving cars and vehicles is very exciting, with even Waymo, likely supplying its tech to auto-makers. If you can't replace them, join them, and supply to them. All this to say, autonomous vehicles are coming to our roads faster than most predicted.

Intel could be one of the winners in the self-driving market. In the future, the average autonomous car will create about 4 terabytes of data daily, or about the same amount of data generated by 3,000 people. If you thought the home of the IoT age was neat, just wait till you meet your future care, the smart cars, they are a'coming.

Intel’s automotive team will move to Israel, giving Israel new bragging rights in its contribution to the future of the automotive sector, quite the accolade. Intel will also have tax benefits to absorbing Mobileye, which stand to save Intel around $175 million a year by 2019.

It's a Race By Any Means

The future is friendly and the road-map is heating up with the best small startups being snatched up in a matter of months by the future leaders of the industry. When the market is this huge, the first to market advantage is highly lucrative.

When ADVs go mainstream, millions of jobs will be in peril all around the world. Less accidents, human errors and incidents of drunk driving will also mean huge changes to the automobile insurance sector.

All is fair in the future and the race to it.

So, see you on the road?

• Heavy trucking alone in the U.S., will mean 1.8 million jobs lost.
• This isn't counting Taxi, Uber, Lyft and other drivers.

I'm the 2nd ranked LinkedIn Top Voice in Marketing and Social, and I cover Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As) I see as impacting the future of technology. Follow me to stay in touch. All opinions my own.

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Do you think this acquisition was a smart move by Intel? By what year do you see yourself receiving transportation from a fully autonomy vehicle?