Turns out Waymo, the Google-run autonomous car company with the most road miles, has been using Intel Corp. chips this whole time.
Just before Intel CEO Brian Krzanich was expected to speak at TechCrunch in San Francisco on Monday, the San Jose chip giant revealed it has been quietly partnering with the Google-owned self-driving car business since 2009.
In a Monday blog post, Krzanich said the company will continue the technical collaboration on its next generation of autonomous vehicles.
“As Waymo’s self-driving technology becomes smarter and more capable, its high-performance hardware and software will require even more powerful and efficient compute,” Krzanich said in a blog post Monday. “By working closely with Waymo, Intel can offer Waymo’s fleet of vehicles the advanced processing power required for level 4 and 5 autonomy.”
The company declined to provide the financial value of the partnership.
Intel is racing against competitors like Nvidia Corp. to bring the first production of self-driving car technology to market. The Silicon Valley Business Journal in July first reported that Intel would be supplying Audi’s 2018 car called the A8, which is a "Level 3" automated car. Level 5 is considered fully autonomous. (Nvidia is also supplying technology for the Audi.)
Intel is expanding its San Jose self-driving car research and development lab this month and has brought on more automaker partners to collaborate with, including BMW and Continental AG. It declined to comment on whether Waymo or other partners are using the San Jose garage space.
Waymo’s newest vehicles, the self-driving Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans, feature Intel-based technologies for sensor processing, general compute and connectivity, and deploying full autonomy in city conditions, Monday's post stated.
"It’s only recently that our relationship has deepened," a company spokesperson told the Business Journal on Monday.
"Waymo engineers were able to work with Intel to integrate some of Intel’s most advanced processing technologies into Waymo’s compute platform for its self-driving minivans," the spokesperson added.
Intel shares were flat on the news, trading at about $37 per share as of about 12 p.m. Pacific time.
The global autonomous vehicles market revenue is expected to reach $126.8 billion by the year 2027, according to Research and Markets.
Waymo's self-driving platform uses a suite of Intel-based technologies including scalable Xeon processors for compute, Intel Arria to accelerate image analytics and Intel’s Gigabit Ethernet connectivity solutions, Monday's statement read.
Krzanich will be discussing this collaboration at TechCrunch Disrupt today with Waymo CEO John Krafcik, Intel stated.
The interior work on Intel's R&D lab expansion is complete but there is still a bit of exterior work to finish, which is expected to be completed over the next few weeks, a company spokesperson aid Monday.
"The space will be able to accommodate everything from code, to making mechanical changes, to printing a mechanical part on a 3D printer, as well as have a fully functioning car lift," Patti Robb, head of Intel's Autonomous Vehicle Lab told the Silicon Valley Business Journal last month.
In May, the Santa Clara-based chip giant opened the lab in San Jose. It also announced it would be partnering with BMW to get a fleet of 40 “highly automated” cars on the road by the end of the year.
Waymo's vehicles traveled more than 635,000 miles autonomously on California public roads in the year that ended on Nov. 30, which is far ahead of car companies including BMW, Ford, GM, Tesla and Nissan. Collectively, Intel-Waymo powered test cars have processed more self-driving car miles than any other autonomous fleet on U.S. roads, the company stated.