Delphi joins the Intel-BMW-Mobileye self driving cars project

Automotive parts and electronics maker, Delphi has joined BMW, Intel and Mobileye as a new partner in their previously announced initiative to co-develop an autonomous driving platform.

As the technology industry races to develop self-driving cars, companies are increasingly inking partnerships and acquisitions to better their chances to reach the finish line.

Delphi will be providing key compute components for the system, and have already supplied a prototype of the platform they’ll eventually supply to the system to the collaborative team. They’ll work directly with Intel and Mobileye on sensor fusion and highly automated driving software.

“The partnership between BMW, Intel and Mobileye continues to break new ground in the auto industry. In less than one year the joint teams have made substantial progress to deliver a scalable platform for autonomous driving and are on the path to deliver 40 pilot cars in the second half of this year. Adding Delphi as an integration partner will help to accelerate the introduction of autonomous cars on the streets from multiple carmakers and offer differentiation to customers," said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich.

The partners will decide each company's role in the partnership, as well as the financial arrangements, in the coming months. More partners could be added to the group, including other automakers.

BMW, Intel and Mobileye joined forces in July 2016. In March, Intel had announced it will spend more than $15 billion to acquire Israel-based Mobileye NV. The trio has set 2021 as their target date for bringing an automated driving platform into production. Their aim is to build a platform that can be used not only for BMW vehicles but also by other automakers and also automotive systems developers.