Mobileye acquires humanoid robot startup Mentee Robotics for $900 million | TechCrunch

Mobileye has made its name and money by supplying automakers with millions of computer vision chips designed to support in-car safety features and advanced driver assistance systems. Intel’s subsidiary and publicly traded company later expanded to tackle autonomous driving through its chips and software.

Now co-founder and president Amnon Shashua is taking the company into what he calls Mobileye 3.0. And that means robotics and a major purchase.

The Israeli company announced Tuesday at CES in Las Vegas that it has reached a deal to acquire Mentee Robotics – a startup co-founded by Shashua in 2022 – for $900 million. Under the agreement, Mobileye will purchase Mentee Robotics for approximately $612 million in cash and up to 26.2 million shares of common stock. Shashua, Mentee’s chairman, co-founder and a major shareholder, recused himself from the consideration and approval of Mobileye’s board, according to the company.

The transaction, which was approved by Mobileye’s board and Intel, its largest shareholder, is expected to close in the first quarter. The transaction is expected to modestly increase Mobileye’s operating costs by a low single digit percentage through 2026.

“Today marks a new chapter for robotics and automotive AI, and the beginning of Mobileye 3.0,” Shashua said on Tuesday. “By combining Mentee’s breakthroughs in humanoid robotics with Mobileye’s expertise in automotive autonomy and its proven ability to produce advanced AI, we have a unique opportunity to lead the evolution of physical AI in robotics and autonomous vehicles on a global scale.”

Mentee Robotics, which develops humanoid robots, will continue as an independent unit within Mobileye. With Shashua as the brains and shareholder between the two companies, there will of course be sufficient overlap.

The benefits for Mobileye aren’t entirely clear, except that everyone seems to be jumping into the humanoid robot game these days. Officially, Mobileye said the acquisition “broadens the scope of the company with a decisive step toward physical artificial intelligence in general.” In particular, systems designed to understand context and intentions and to interact naturally with people and the physical world.

In other words, Mobileye and Shashua appear to want to go beyond the technology used to help vehicles navigate the world and apply it to humanoid robots. The company suggested in its announcement that it has the resources to achieve that goal, noting that its current automotive revenue pipeline – driven by its advanced vehicle autonomy and advanced driver assistance technology – will reach $24.5 billion over the next eight years. The company said its pipeline figure increased by more than 40% compared to January 2023.

Of course, developing humanoid robots that can eventually go into production will be a costly endeavor. Mentee will gain significantly because it can leverage Mobileye’s resources, including an advanced AI training infrastructure – also known as compute.

The acquisition news comes a day after Mobileye announced another customer for its next-generation chip built for hands-off advanced driver assistance systems. The company announced Monday that a “top 10 automaker” has closed a deal to buy 9 million of its EyeQ6H-based Surround ADAS systems. Volkswagen Group announced in March that it would also use the chip. Mobileye now estimates future shipments of more than 19 million EyeQ6H-based surround systems.