DETROIT (AP) -- Computer chip maker Intel paid handsomely for a piece of the next big thing Monday as it offered more than $15 billion for Mobileye, an Israeli company at the forefront of autonomous vehicle technology.
The purchase, scheduled to close by year's end, creates another major player in self-driving technology as traditional automakers and tech companies vie to put the cars into public use. Most companies have predicted autonomous vehicles will be carrying people in the next three-to-five years.
Jerusalem-based Mobileye, which makes software that processes information from cameras and other car sensors to decide where the cars should steer, has products on just about every automaker's autonomous test fleet. The combination with Intel adds hardware, more software expertise and data centers that the companies say will hasten deployment of autonomous technology, including wider use of automatic emergency braking and other technologies that already are on the roads.
http://www.syracuse.com/business-news/index.ssf/2017/03/eye_on_self-driving_cars_intel_buying_mobileye_for_15_billion.html
Exponential growth.
Neither our gava (nor the opposition dancing troupe) have a single clue on how fast things are going to change in the next 2-3 decades. In all probability, drivers will be history, just like horses were for general transport. Imagine, a baby born today most likely wouldn't be able to get a job as a driver when they turn 18.
Then more and more countries will be
banning the internal combustion engine within the next 10-15 years. Where are we going to source our mitumbas from (we spent 50 years refusing to industrialize) and have we even
started thinking about the required infrastructure (charging stations, etc.)?
Well, we've got more really important things to do, like dance for food: