Four things to know about Mobileye

Shares of Mobileye NV soared on their first day of trading Friday after the company priced its initial public offering above the top of its indicated price range.

The Israeli developer of camera systems that help cars detect other vehicles, pedestrians and roadway markings sold 35.6 million shares at $25 a share. Shares were offered in a range of $21 to $23. If the overallotment option of 5.3 million is exercised, the offering could raise $1.02 billion.

The strong demand for the offering comes despite the steepest one-day drop in the Nasdaq Composite on Thursday since April 10.

Here are four things to know about the company:

Financials: The company has a long record of losing money. Revenue in 2013 doubled to $81.2 million, from $40.3 million. While Mobileye posted a $19.9 million profit for 2013, it posted a $19.6 million loss for the first quarter of 2014. In its prospectus, it noted there is no assurance that it will become and remain profitable.

Indeed, it forecasts a bottom line for the second quarter of between a loss of $0.1 million and a profit of $0.6 million, compared with a profit of $4.0 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2013.

In addition, it flagged a “material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, which resulted in the restatement of our 2013 earnings per share.”

Customers: General Motors Corp. is its biggest client, accounting for 29% of revenue from original equipment manufacturing. Honda accounts for 25% of OEM revenue, followed by BMW at 15%, it said. OEM revenue totaled $63.3 million in 2013, or 78% of total revenue.

Who cashed out through the IPO: Most of the shares sold came from existing investors. The biggest is a unit of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which sold 4.4 million shares, reducing its stake to 12.3% from 14.9%. Other sellers included Amnon Shashua and Ziv Aviram, the company’s founders and senior executives.

Shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

Political risk: Mobileye noted this in its prospectus:

“We could be harmed by any major hostilities involving Israel, the interruption or curtailment of trade between Israel and its trading partners or a significant downturn in the economic or financial condition of Israel.

“Some of our employees in Israel are obligated to perform annual reserve duty in the Israeli military and are subject to being called for additional active duty under emergency circumstances.”

Mobileye N.V. is the global leader in the design and development of software and related technologies for camera-based Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. Our technology keeps passengers safer on the roads, reduces the risks of traffic accidents, saves lives and has the potential to revolutionize the driving experience by enabling autonomous driving. Our proprietary software algorithms and EyeQ® chips perform detailed interpretations of the visual field in order to anticipate possible collisions with other vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, animals, debris and other obstacles. Mobileye's products are also able to detect roadway markings such as lanes, road boundaries, barriers and similar items, as well as to identify and read traffic signs and traffic lights.

Our products are integrated into car models from 20 global automakers including BMW, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Nissan and Volvo. Our products are also available in the aftermarket.

Auto-Parts Giants Hunt for Mergers

Aug. 13, 2014 10:11 p.m. ET

German auto-parts maker ZF Friedrichshafen AG's attempt to buy U.S. rival TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. for more than $10 billion would be the biggest deal to hit the automotive supply chain in years, but it isn't alone: auto supplier M&A has sizzled in 2014 and industry executives are hunting for more deals.

ZF has been in talks with TRW for several weeks about an acquisition and the parties are still apart on various issues, people familiar with the matter said. If sealed, the deal would marry two companies with a combined $37 billion in revenue, creating a company roughly the size of market leaders Robert Bosch GmbH or Japan's Denso Corp. It would also be better positioned to compete in an industry moving toward electrified vehicles and self-driving cars.

Since news of the deal emerged, several major auto suppliers -- including U.S.-based Delphi Automotive and BorgWarner Inc., and Swedish safety-parts supplier Autoliv Inc. -- have indicated they are eager to ink deals in the second half of 2014. While likely smaller in scale, the transactions will be driven by similar factors: easier access to financing, a desire to snap up companies with advanced technology on the shelf and fears of being left behind.

"We want to acquire leading-edge technology that will drive growth for us," BorgWarner Chief Executive James Verrier said this month. "The pipeline is pretty robust and long and deep." Delphi, its crosstown rival, said it expects to pull the trigger on deals ranging from $200 million to $1 billion by the end of the year.

The statements come amid an uptick in supplier M&A activity. To date, there have been more than $13 billion in global auto-supply deals in 2014, exceeding the $12.4 billion in deals done over the entire 2013 period and the highest mark since 2006, according to data provider Dealogic.

Private-equity firms, meanwhile, remain active suitors (the biggest in 2014 was the purchase of Gates Corp. by Blackstone Group for $5.4 billion).

ZF's deal is expected to further boost the appetite for strategic deals. In a note to investors, Morgan Stanley auto analyst Adam Jonas said certain suppliers "should prioritize and aggressively pursue acquisitions, especially in light of a potential TRW+ZF combination."

Mr. Jonas singled out Swedish safety-parts supplier Autoliv. Last month, Chief Executive Jan Carlson said "we have talked about an amount of $1 billion or so" for a transaction, and indicated Autoliv may need an acquisition by year's end to reach its targeted leverage ratio.

Some technology suppliers, however, are proving to be too pricey. Mobileye NV, the maker of vehicle-sensing technology essential for driverless cars, went public this month and now sports a market value of nearly $7 billion.

Mr. Carlson said Mobileye's multi-billion-dollar valuation before the IPO wasn't within Autoliv's budget.

Delphi executives will also have to take a step back and give far more scrutiny to a deal that exceeds $1 billion to avoid "getting big for the sake of bigness," according to Rodney O'Neal, the company's chief executive.

Brian Johnson, an analyst with Barclays, said the ZF deal is designed to help the private German company "to survive in a future world in which electric vehicles become the dominant vehicle." And it will take more than just one or two small acquisitions to succeed.

China will be another driving factor in automotive supplier deals. Larger, diversified industrial companies looking for a way to accelerate growth could acquire auto parts businesses to ride the projected expansion of the Chinese market.

"You really have to have that global footprint," says Richard Walawender, head of corporate, international and automotive practice groups at Detroit law firm Miller Canfield. That's true for U.S. and European companies that lack a presence in China or emerging markets, and it is true for Chinese companies that lack operations outside their home market, he says. Miller Canfield has worked with several Chinese companies that acquired North American auto parts operations.

The Chinese government's recent moves to ease restrictions on overseas investments are spurring more shopping by Chinese companies interested in the U.S. automotive sector, Mr. Walawender says.

"The trend is for them to be looking at larger deals," Mr. Walawender says. "They have become a lot more sophisticated as buyers."

http://online.wsj.com/articles/auto-...ers-1407982261

One Israeli Company Is Changing The Way We Drive

Over the last six years Mobileye has been awarded 80% of the large quantity orders they have been asked to submit proposals for. The company estimates that its products are installed in over 3.3 million vehicles worldwide. In 2013 MBLY reported revenues of $81 million, comprised mainly of sales to General Motors, Honda Motor, BMW Group and Nissan Motor. By the end of this year, Mobileye technology will be available in 160 car models from 18 different auto manufacturers. By 2016 Mobileye technology will be found in 237 car models and 20 auto manufacturers, including Tesla. Besides their growing deals with auto manufacturers, Mobileye also has relationships with all of the major auto parts suppliers, including TRW, Delphi Automotive and Magna International . These companies incorporate Mobileye software into their cameras.

Auto safety standards are driven by regulation and consumer desire to drive safer automobiles. This year Europe will require one or more advanced safety systems for a vehicle to achieve a 5-star rating and by 2017 auto makers will be required to have advanced safety functions just to receive a 4-star rating. The U.S. has also been moving in this direction by adding ADAS features to its ratings evaluation since 2011 and rearview cameras this year. Other large countries are expected to follow the European and U.S. lead.

Despite Mobileye’s rapid growth rate in revenues (over 100% in the past 2 years), the company has very little in the way of earnings or free cash flow and a market capitalization approaching $7 billion. Many things will have to go right to justify Mobileye’s current stock price. At the same time, there are significant barriers for entry into this market. The complex algorithms Mobileye uses in their technology are fifteen years in the making and their products have been available in vehicles since 2007. Mobileye is the only provider of ADAS to offer the whole bundle of safety and convenience functions that are sought in vehicles, while other competitors specialize in specific features. Any new entrant–even one with considerable capital–would have to go through a five to seven year development timeline with an auto manufacturer just to validate their technology. In addition, auto parts suppliers have scaled back their own efforts to develop ADAS technology, partly due to Mobileye’s strategic policy of not working with suppliers that sell competing products. While it may be too early to determine who the winner will be in this race, Mobileye is currently in pole position.

Morgan Stanley Places $100 Bullish Target On Mobileye
Today 9:17 AM ET (Benzinga)

Analysts at Morgan Stanley maintained an Overweight rating and $100 bullish case price target on Mobileye (NYSE: MBLY).

Analysts feel Mobileye is the only pure play in the autonomous driving industry and could achieve 50 percent or more compound annual growth rate (CAGR).

Ravi Shanker feels that if Mobileye can maintain its 80 percent market share, the $100 price level is easily attainable by 2020. The analyst noted no annual price reductions, stable margins and penetration into the Chinese market as areas of growth.

Risks involved for Mobileye include the emergence of new competitors, invention of new software, deteriorating automotive cycle and uncertainty of its software being adopted in the market.

Shares of Mobileye recently traded at $44.60, up 1.6 percent.

Mobileye’s Stock on Collision Course

Mobileye MBLY didn’t need the help of Elon Musk to rev up its stock. But investors are wise to pump the brakes now.

Mobileye’s shares skidded on Friday. Mostly, this was part of a sell-on-the-news reaction to Tesla Motors TSLA unveiling a new “autopilot” system for its current line of Model S cars as well as a new “D” trim that adds dual electric motors for improved handling.

Mr. Musk, Tesla’s social-media savvy chief, sent out a mysterious tweet on Oct. 1 to tease the announcement. This gave Mobileye’s stock a short-term boost to a new record high. But the shares had already more than doubled from their $25 initial public offering price in the two months prior. Tesla confirmed Friday that Mobileye is a supplier for its new system.

Mobileye’s EyeQ chips use cameras to scan the areas around a vehicle and alert for potential collisions. The company expects about 160 car models will include its chips by the end of this year. Business has ramped up quickly, as auto makers look to new technology features as a way to differentiate their rides.

Revenues at Mobileye surged more than 90%, year over year, in the first half of this year. Analysts expect growth to keep running hot, with sales projected to rise by more than 60% in each of the next three fiscal years, according to FactSet. Meanwhile, gross margins have typically been north of 70%.

Hitting those marks still wouldn’t justify Mobileye’s valuation. After Friday’s drop, the stock trades at more than 190 times forward earnings. Even its bullish Wall Street backers seem cautious; lead IPO underwriter Goldman Sachs GS -0.49% rates the shares as neutral.

Drivers may feel safer using Mobileye’s technology, but this stock price looks out of control.

Mobileye Q3 Fueled By Growth In Auto-Safety Systems

Auto technology company Mobileye (NYSE:MBLY) drove home a third-quarter earnings report Thursday morning that beat revenue forecasts.

The developer of camera-based driver assistance systems reported revenue of $34.7 million, beating the consensus estimates of $30.3 million and up 70% from the year-earlier period. It reported earnings per share minus items of 4 cents, the same as last year, meeting the consensus estimates as polled by Thomson Reuters.

Mobileye stock initially rose 7% in early trading but reversed and was down 5.5%, near 44, in midday trading on the stock market today.

Mobileye, launched 15 years ago in Israel, says it's the leading developer of camera-based driver assistance systems, including automatic braking and collision avoidance. It makes chips and software installed in a camera system that monitors road conditions, providing cars with self-driving and auto-safety features. It also sells an aftermarket car safety system.

"During the quarter we successfully won programs for our EyeQ System-on-Chip in several new models with new and existing OEM customers, further validating our best-of-breed mono-camera technology, which bundles multiple applications into a single package," Mobileye CEO Ziv Aviram said in the company's earnings release.

The report comes two days after the start of the Los Angeles Auto Show, which this year has a focus on the "connected car," which will eventually help lead to self-driving cars like those that Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has been working on.

Mobileye's technology is used in a wide range of cars including models from BMW, Nissan, General Motors (NYSE:GM), Honda Motor (NYSE:HMC), Volvo and Ford Motor (NYSE:F).

Electric car maker Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) plans to add lane-change and speed warning capabilities to new Model S sedans. It, too, reportedly is working with Mobileye. About 3.9 million vehicles carry Mobileye systems.

The company raised $890 million on its Aug. 1 initial public offering by selling 35.6 million shares at an above-range price of 25. The stock rose 48% its first day, to 37.

Mobileye is in position to benefit from automakers wanting to attain high safety ratings and from potential government regulation requiring additional auto safety systems.

Mobileye N.V. : NTSB called on car manufacturers to make collision avoidance systems standard in newly manufactured vehicles; co is also presenting today (MBLY) :

Yesterday, the National Transportation Safety Board outlined the life-saving benefits of currently available collision avoidance systems, and recommended that the technology become standard on all new passenger and commercial vehicles. In the report, the NTSB recommends that manufacturers make collision avoidance systems standard equipment in newly manufactured vehicles, beginning with collision warning systems, and adding autonomous emergency braking once NHTSA completes standards for such braking systems.

Furthermore, the NTSB recommends that NHTSA develop tests and standards in order to rate the performance of each vehicle's collision avoidance systems and to incorporate those results into an expanded NCAP 5-star safety rating scale. See expanded original post from yesterday , including a link to the official statement from the NTSB

- Mobileye's software performs interpretations of the visual field around a vehicle to anticipate possible collisions or obstacles as well as detect roadway markings and traffic signs.

- The company is also scheduled to present at the William Blair Growth Stock Conference in Chicago today at 12:10 p.m. CDT

Citron calls Mobileye "short of the year: 2016"; shares fall

(Reuters) - Mobileye NV's (MBLY.N) stock is "short of the year: 2016", influential short-selling firm Citron Research said in a tweet on Wednesday, pushing down shares of the driving assistant software maker nearly 7 percent.

The tweet provided a link to a report on electrek.co, which says Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O) is planning to discontinue Mobileye's autopilot system and build its own in-house system. (Elon Musk offered a ?multimillion-dollar bonus? for Geohot to build a ?Mobileye crushing? Autopilot system for Tesla | Electrek)

Citron also tweeted a link to a Bloomberg report in which George Hotz, the first person to hack iPhone and PlayStation 3, calls Mobileye's technology "absurd."

"They're a company that's behind the times, and they have not caught up," Hotz is quoted as saying in the Bloomberg report.

Hotz was approached by Tesla to develop an autopilot system that may replace Mobileye's, according to the Bloomberg report.

Citron had set a short-term price target of $20 on the stock in September, below its initial public offering price. The median price target of 15 analysts is $70, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Shares of Israel-based Mobileye, which makes camera-based systems that help drivers avoid collisions, were down 6.2 percent at $40.28 in afternoon trading.

The stock, which has lost a quarter of its value in the past six months, had a short interest on 19.3 percent of outstanding shares as of Nov. 30, the highest this year after rising steadily since August.

Led by Andrew Left, Citron has previously targeted stocks such as Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc (VRX.TO) and Ambarella Inc (AMBA.O).

It questioned Mobileye's "financials, business performance or realistic future prospects" in September.

The short seller also named Gopro Inc (GPRO.O) as the short of 2015 and 3D systems Corp (DDD.N) as the short of 2014 in the tweet.

OEM Launches

GM, Mitsubishi, Honda, Yulon, Mini cooper, Nissan, Jaguar Range Rover, Scania, Volvo, Opel, Hyundai, Ford, Chrysler Group, BMW, PSA

Future OEM launches (arranged by manufacture):

Manufacturer :

Audi, BMW, Citroen, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai Kia Motor Company, Jaguar LandRover, MAN, Nissan, Opel, Peugeot, Renault, Scania Truck, Volvo, Yulon Motors (Luxgen)

Mobileye NV (MBLY) Research Coverage Started at Evercore ISI

December 2nd, 2015

Equities researchers at Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Mobileye NV in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $68.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 56.47% from the company’s current price.

Shares of Mobileye NV traded down 0.32% during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $43.46. 2,386,381 shares of the company’s stock traded hands. Mobileye NV has a 52-week low of $32.41 and a 52-week high of $64.48. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $45.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.99. The stock has a market cap of $9.48 billion and a P/E ratio of 282.21.

Mobileye NV last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.02. The company earned $70.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $67.36 million. The business’s revenue was up 103.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.04 EPS. Analysts forecast that Mobileye NV will post $0.47 earnings per share for the current year.

MBLY has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays restated a “buy” rating and set a $76.00 price target on shares of Mobileye NV in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Mobileye NV in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Citigroup Inc. reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $77.00 price target on shares of Mobileye NV in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. RBC Capital reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $68.00 price objective on shares of Mobileye NV in a report on Monday, September 28th.

One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $65.76.

Mobileye to Provide Car Companies With Autonomous Systems

CEO says 2019 agreements will represent an inflection point for the auto industry

May 12, 2016

Mobileye N.V. has agreements to provide two separate car companies with systems for fully autonomous cars in 2019 deals that give a clearer timetable for when auto makers believe they can start producing vehicles entirely capable of driving themselves.

While there are many Silicon Valley companies, including Alphabet Inc., racing to develop autonomous-vehicle technology, Israel-based Mobileye is generally considered a leader given its current share of sales in the market for components needed to enable self-driving features. In an interview, Chairman and Chief Technology Amnon Shashua said the 2019 deals are “fully committed” and “real programs” that will represent an inflection point for the auto industry.

Mr. Shashua declined to name the auto makers signing up for the technology. He did say Volkswagen AG , BMW AG and General Motors Co. are among the five auto makers in line to buy a system for vehicles produced in 2018 that will allow cars to operate autonomously only when driving on the highway; the 2019 deal will enable this type of functionality in all conditions.

Mobileye has for years increasingly provided components and software to auto makers looking to gradually introduce more semiautonomous features, including emergency brake assist or lane-departure prevention, that are considered the building blocks for self-driving cars. A suite of components ranging from cameras to sensors to software are needed to help the car’s computer make decisions on its own.

Those systems are on their way to becoming standard in every vehicle sold in North America and Europe as regulators and insurance companies pressure auto makers to install them. But, Mr. Shashua said there still need to be advances with components in several areas to take further steps with autonomous cars.

For instance, the maps that vehicle software systems will use need to become more capable of tracking immediate changes in routes. And cars still aren’t capable of adequately handling some complex tasks, such as merging into traffic.

“This is why fully autonomous driving is not coming out next year,” Mr. Shashua said. “People (will) say the technology is there—it’s not there.’’

One of Mobileye’s highest-profile supply deals is an agreement to sell autopilot components to Tesla Motors Inc. While highly touted, flaws in Tesla’s autopilot system—including its inability to respond to certain road conditions—have been in the spotlight.

In addition to supplying the computer and algorithms to control autonomous vehicles, Mobileye is building a data collection system for mapping that could be used for autonomous vehicles. It already has signed GM, Volkswagen and Nissan Motor Co. , to agree to have their vehicles collect data for the company.

BMW Is Said to Team Up With Intel, Mobileye on Self-Driving Cars

June 29, 2016 — 4:17 PM PDT

Intel Corp. is working with Mobileye NV to develop self-driving car technology for BMW AG, said people familiar with the matter.

Senior executives from each company will hold an event on Friday to discuss the driverless-vehicle initiative, said the people, who asked not to be named because the details are private.

Jerusalem-based Mobileye has been an early leader in providing cameras, software and other components that allow vehicles to see the world around them. BMW has been a client of Mobileye, along with General Motors Co. and Tesla Motors Inc. As automakers and their suppliers race to create systems to replace human drivers, most companies are betting on some form of artificial intelligence, which requires powerful processing.

Intel is the world’s biggest chipmaker, thanks to its control of the computer-processor market. The company has elbowed its way onto the car dashboard by producing the components inside entertainment and information systems in vehicles. However, it still lags behind companies such as NXP Semiconductors NV and Infineon Technologies AG in providing chips to the auto industry.

Mobileye Ends Partnership With Tesla

The Israeli company, which makes software and components that help prevent collisions, says it will concentrate on systems that lead to full autonomy

July 26, 2016

Mobileye N.V. , the largest supplier of camera-based advanced driver assistance safety systems, said on Tuesday that its agreement to supply Tesla Motors Inc. with systems used in its Autopilot driver-assist system wouldn’t continue beyond the current product cycle.

The Israeli company said Tesla will make up about 1% of its revenues in 2016.

Mobileye makes algorithms and computer chips to interpret images to anticipate possible collisions with other vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, animals, debris and other obstacles.

“Mobileye’s work with Tesla will not extend beyond the EyeQ3,” the company said in a prepared statement. “We continue to support and maintain the current Tesla Autopilot product plans. This includes a significant upgrade of several functions that affect both the ability to respond to crash avoidance and to optimize auto-steering in the near term, without any hardware updates.”

Mobileye wouldn’t say when the contract would end, but it has a new system, called the EyeQ4, which debuts in 2018.

Instead, Mobileye said it would concentrate on systems that lead to full autonomy. Earlier this month, Mobileye said it would partner with BMW AG and Intel Corp. to design a system for fully autonomous vehicles by 2021. Mobileye has said it has contracts to ship systems that allow for full autonomy to two auto makers by 2019. It didn’t name the companies.

For Tesla, the Mobileye system is used to power its Autopilot, which adds steering through curves, along with adaptive cruise control, to create an experience that could be used hands and feet free. The system, however, is intended to have the driver with his hands on the wheel at all times.

Mobileye Surges 9%: Wells Likes Volkswagen Collaboration

February 13, 2017, 12:44 P.M. ET

Shares of mobile chip vendor Mobileye (MBLY) are up $3.72, or almost 9%, at $47, after auto maker Volkswagen a short while ago said it would use Mobileye’s technology in future cars, as part of a proposal to the industry of a new standard for mapping information.

“Future Volkswagen models will use the camera-based map and localisation technology Road Experience Management™ (REM™) from Mobileye,” said Volkswagen.

The two are proposing what is referred to as “swarm data,” whereby “crowd-sourced” data from cars of different auto makers is combined to “generate real-time data for precise localisation and acquisition of high-definition track data.”

My recollection from recent meetings with Mobileye at CES is that Volkswagen was not among the prominent customers already signed up for its technology; its main customer references were BMW, Audi, and Nissan.

Update: I stand corrected in my initial assessment: As Wells Fargo‘s Richard Kwas lays out in a note to clients this afternoon, Volkswagen had been expected for some time, and the big jump today is a relief about that timing:

Kwas sees a couple different benefits here, one being the role in an industry standard, and a second being the prospect of selling data as a new revenue source:

Intel to Buy Mobileye for $15.3 Billion

Deal marks latest investment by a technology company in the future of self-driving cars

March 13, 2017

Intel Corp. on Monday said it struck a deal to buy Mobileye N.V. for about $15.3 billion, the latest investment by a technology company in the future of self-driving cars.

The deal values Mobileye at $63.54 a share, a 34% premium to its closing price Friday. Mobileye shares rose 33.3% to $63.01 in premarket trading and were recently halted, while Intel shares fell 1.8%.

Mobileye makes chip-based camera systems that power semi-automated driving features that are already being used in cars today and is working to put that technology in the center of self-driving cars of the future.

The two companies already have ties. Intel, Mobileye and BMW AG, have a partnership to put about 40 self-driving cars on the road in test mode.

Auto makers and tech companies including Alphabet Inc., Uber Technologies Inc. and Tesla Inc. are racing to develop autonomous technology.

General Motors Co. last year spent $1 billion to acquire Cruise Automation to expedite its self-driving program. Uber bought self-driving truck maker Otto for $680 million in August. Alphabet, Google’s parent, recently sued Uber for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to that deal.

In January, Intel said it would buy a 15% stake in digital mapmaker Here International B.V., joining with its other core shareholders, BMW, Daimler AG and Volkswagen AG’s Audi unit, to develop navigation technology for self-driving cars.

The transaction will add to Intel’s adjusted earnings per share and is expected to close in the next nine months.