Intel Courts Autonomous Car Makers -- Update
November 15 2016 - 2:12PM
Dow Jones News
By Tim Higgins
Intel Chief Executive Officer Brian Krzanich on Tuesday arrived
at his first car show as a keynote speaker to deliver the message
that his company's computing muscle and big-data prowess are just
what auto makers need as they prepare for a world of vehicles that
can drive themselves.
During his speech at Los Angeles' annual car show, he plans to
announce a $250 million commitment by Intel Capital to invest in
autonomous car technology during the next two years.
Mr. Krzanich, who oversees the Silicon Valley semiconductor
giant, faces increased competition as chip companies position
themselves to provide the computing power for what quickly are
becoming data centers on wheels. Rival Qualcomm Inc., the dominant
vendor of smartphone chips, agreed to acquire the Dutch automotive
chip leader NXP Semiconductors NV for $39 billion, while Nvidia
Corp. provides chips for the latest generation of electric cars
from Tesla Motors Inc.
"We see the world of cars shifting from something that uses
computers to enhance the drive to something that uses compute to
really power the drive," Mr. Krzanich said in an interview before
his speech. "More and more, it's going to be that compute
capability that's going to drive a lot of the differentiation of
the car of the future."
Intel's automotive business, which is involved in 30 vehicle
programs on the road currently, is slated to increase that number
to 49 by 2020 with orders worth $1 billion, the company said. Intel
doesn't break out its automotive business in its financial results.
Several auto makers including Ford Motor Co. and BMW AG are
targeting 2021 to build self-driving vehicles.
Mr. Krzanich's job increasingly involves courting auto makers.
During a recent trip to Europe, for example, he spent 60% of
conversations with auto executives. "I love cars -- they're a
passion of mine," he said before sheepishly admitting he drives a
staid Toyota Prius. His garage, however, stables a couple of
Porsches.
The Los Angeles extravaganza, which opens to the public on
Friday, has been rebranded during the days leading up to the event
-- traditionally devoted to presenting vehicles to the press -- as
Automobility LA in an effort to show case technology in autos.
Even without building fully self-driving cars, auto makers need
increasing computing power to fuel advanced safety features and
entertainment systems. The average new car contains 616 chips
compared with 550 in 2013, the research IHS Markit estimates,
performing tasks as mundane as controlling headlights and as
sophisticated as warning when a car strays out of a lane.
Tesla, the Silicon Valley electric-car maker, is shipping
vehicles with all of the hardware needed to drive themselves with
the addition of software that is still in development. The software
needs to be validated and approved by regulators, but Tesla's move
underscores the rapid advance of a car industry that typically has
judged innovation in terms of incremental improvements in fuel
efficiency and radio systems that seem antiquated compared with a
smartphone.
Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang told investors last week that Tesla's
self-driving hardware put the auto maker far ahead of
competitors.
"Anybody who was talking about autonomous capabilities and 2020
and 2021 is, at the moment, re-evaluating in a very significant
way," Mr. Huang said.
Intel's relationship with BMW could serve as a model for the
chip giant's approach to other auto makers. The companies, along
with parts supplier Mobileye, are working to bring out an
autonomous car in 2021, they announced earlier this year.
The Intel-BMW partnership demonstrates the changing roll that
chip makers have in the automotive industry, where chips have been
regarded as commodities. Auto makers, unlike computer and
smartphone vendors, haven't bragged about a vehicle's processing
power. They've touted horsepower.
But vehicles that generate and consume large amounts of data
raise new challenges, such as privacy and cybersecurity. Mr.
Krzanich sees a place for his company to help auto makers sift the
data flood to make sure some is kept private, some is shared to
help update autonomous systems, and some is available to
advertisers. He pointed to the company's work in health care with
Cancer Cloud, a collaborative project with Oregon Health and
Science University that lets medical researchers share data while
keeping parts of it private.
The typical car today puts out very little data, Mr. Krzanich
said, while the typical autonomous car will generate 4,000
gigabytes a day in 2020. Car companies are going to need help
managing that. "It is a marriage of bringing what I call automotive
skills together with data center and high compute skills," he
said.
Write to Tim Higgins at Tim.Higgins@WSJ.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 15, 2016 13:57 ET (18:57 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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