► Mobileye’s tech will form the basis of future ADAS functions
► Tech could give Porsche a rival to Tesla Autopilot
► Systems will be tuned by Porsche engineers
Porsche has partnered with Mobileye, intending to develop advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and partially autonomous systems for use in future Porsche models.
Israeli tech company Mobileye, formerly owned by Intel, will offer up its Supervision technology as the basis for a range of assistance systems up to and including “Level Two Plus” partially automated driving functions.
Mobileye’s system uses eleven cameras and several radar systems and can provide navigate-on-pilot functions and autonomous lane-changing similar to Tesla’s Autopilot function.
An autonomous Porsche? Surely not…
The most autonomous that a Porsche currently gets is ‘InnoDrive’ – the same combination of adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping aids that every manufacturer north of Dacia is happy to offer. It isn’t standard equipment on any Porsche, remaining a £2k+ optional extra even on the £140,000 Taycan Turbo S.
But, as the brand increasingly electrifies and guns for the same market as other premium EVs such as the Tesla Model S, its offering will have to keep up – so sophisticated partial automation needs to at least be on the options list, even if most Porsche owners see such functionality as an insult.
“In most situations, drivers will continue to want to drive a Porsche themselves in the future – and will be able to do so at any time,” commented Michael Steiner, board member for R&D at Porsche. “That said, there are certain aspects of partially automated driving that we are interested in. Intelligent systems like Mobileye Supervision can aid the driver in everyday situations, for example by not having to keep their hands on the wheel the entire time in traffic jams.”
Porsche has also confirmed that it will customise Mobileye’s systems in-house to tune them specifically for Porsche cars. “To ensure a brand-worthy experience”, systems will be integrated and tuned by Porsche engineers, particularly the one that monitor’s the driver’s attention. That should be slightly reassuring for anyone who’s had a driver attention warning insistently bleeped at them while, for example, joining a motorway…
Mobileye has confirmed that its Supervision technology will also be available to other brands within the Volkswagen Group. In particular, VW Commercial Vehicles will use the partnership to further its development of autonomous delivery vehicles.
The brand also has a partnership with the Group’s software division, Cariad, and helped develop the Travel Assist system in Volkswagen cars.