It has emerged that Tesla Motors Inc will be ending its partnership with electronic chip and sensor manufacturer, Mobileye. Mobileye is an Israeli tech firm, and they provide the required sensors for most self-driving vehicles.
In a statement, Mobileye said “Nevertheless, in our view, moving toward more advanced autonomy is a paradigm shift both in terms of function complexity and the need to ensure an extremely high level of safety. There is much at stake here, to Mobileye’s reputation and to the industry at large. Mobileye believes that achieving this objective requires partnerships that go beyond the typical OEM / supplier relationship, such as our recently announced collaboration with BMW and Intel. Mobileye will continue to pursue similar such relationships.”
It has been speculated that the two companies have ended their partnership because of the Tesla Motors Inc Model S crash, which occurred in May 2016. The crash raised questions over Tesla’s autopilot system, as the incident occurred while the EV was in “autopilot mode.” However, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, hit back at critics, insisting that drivers weren’t using the system properly. For example, he said that drivers weren’t keeping their hands on the steering wheel at all times.
Tesla may produce its own sensors, but the California based electric car manufacturer has not officially said it will. Their new Gigafactory, based in Nevada, is set to open later this month, on the 31/07/2016. It will produce a huge amount of lithium-ion batteries, required for producing hundreds of thousands of Tesla cars (mainly their new Model 3) per year.
The company has given out 12 “golden tickets” to random Model 3 reservation holders, inviting them to the facility’s grand opening. As of 18:20 GMT, Tesla Motors Inc’s stock is down by 0.17%, trading at $229.13 per share, giving the firm a market capitalization of $33.36 billion.
