Photo: Tesla & Mobileye
Soon after Tesla made public the unfortunate accident that happened on May 7 which ended Joshua Brown's life, Mobileye decided to part ways with what clearly continued to be a very profitable company and a good future prospect.
Israeli firm Mobileye supplied its EyeQ3 chip which was an integral part of Tesla's Autopilot feature. After the crash in which the semi-autonomous system failed to notice the presence of a semi truck trailer sitting across the road in broad daylight, the two companies ended their collaboration with each party claiming to be the one who initiated the split.
A couple of months have passed and everything was quiet, suggesting that there was no bad blood between Tesla and Mobileye, or at least they were both discreet enough not to make a big deal out of it. Which would be normal since big companies shouldn't act like big babies. However, there are reputations at stake here, not to mention a lot of money so, sure enough, somebody had to break the silence sooner or later.
That someone turned out to be Mobileye who, through the voice of its CTO Amnon Shashua, said that the decision to pull out of the Tesla deal wasn't based solely on the fatal crash, but that was just the drop that spilled the glass. He accused Elon Musk's company of "pushing the envelope on safety," which is something Tesla will deny by pointing out to the hypothetical number of lives that the Autopilot has saved during its nearly one year of existence.
In response, Tesla basically called Mobileye a sore looser and accused it of greed, saying the Israeli company found out about the in-house development of vision technology going on in Palo Alto and tried to coerce Tesla to give up on the project and continue buying its products. When Tesla refused, Mobileye was forced to take its toys and leave, blaming the decision on its safety concerns.
In what risks to become an endless exchange of statements that can only end in court, Mobileye responded by claiming it had "little knowledge" of Tesla's project. The Israeli said the rupture began with Tesla's desire to give Autopilot a "hands-free" function, which Mobileye did not agree with. The statement says that a hands-on approach was decided during a face-to-face meeting with Elon Musk, but when the product came out, we could all see how it worked.
Are we expected to believe that Mobileye took the decision to leave the moment Autopilot was introduced, and the fact it actually happened just after Joshua Brown's accident was just a coincidence? As for Tesla, it's clear as daylight that the company wants its clients to use the Autopilot as much as possible, and it knew very well that for that to happen, it would have to offer them the kind of freedom that can become dangerous in case of complacency. It looks like both parties wanted to part with each other, but were in no hurry to do so: Mobileye because it received money and publicity from Tesla, and Tesla because it still needed the Israeli's products until it would develop its own. Yet after the accident, it all caved in, and now we can sit back and enjoy the soap opera-like fallout.
A couple of months have passed and everything was quiet, suggesting that there was no bad blood between Tesla and Mobileye, or at least they were both discreet enough not to make a big deal out of it. Which would be normal since big companies shouldn't act like big babies. However, there are reputations at stake here, not to mention a lot of money so, sure enough, somebody had to break the silence sooner or later.
That someone turned out to be Mobileye who, through the voice of its CTO Amnon Shashua, said that the decision to pull out of the Tesla deal wasn't based solely on the fatal crash, but that was just the drop that spilled the glass. He accused Elon Musk's company of "pushing the envelope on safety," which is something Tesla will deny by pointing out to the hypothetical number of lives that the Autopilot has saved during its nearly one year of existence.
In response, Tesla basically called Mobileye a sore looser and accused it of greed, saying the Israeli company found out about the in-house development of vision technology going on in Palo Alto and tried to coerce Tesla to give up on the project and continue buying its products. When Tesla refused, Mobileye was forced to take its toys and leave, blaming the decision on its safety concerns.
In what risks to become an endless exchange of statements that can only end in court, Mobileye responded by claiming it had "little knowledge" of Tesla's project. The Israeli said the rupture began with Tesla's desire to give Autopilot a "hands-free" function, which Mobileye did not agree with. The statement says that a hands-on approach was decided during a face-to-face meeting with Elon Musk, but when the product came out, we could all see how it worked.
Are we expected to believe that Mobileye took the decision to leave the moment Autopilot was introduced, and the fact it actually happened just after Joshua Brown's accident was just a coincidence? As for Tesla, it's clear as daylight that the company wants its clients to use the Autopilot as much as possible, and it knew very well that for that to happen, it would have to offer them the kind of freedom that can become dangerous in case of complacency. It looks like both parties wanted to part with each other, but were in no hurry to do so: Mobileye because it received money and publicity from Tesla, and Tesla because it still needed the Israeli's products until it would develop its own. Yet after the accident, it all caved in, and now we can sit back and enjoy the soap opera-like fallout.
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