Use of Mobileye data draws $ 15.3b Intel bid

Intel’sI $ 15.3 billion proposed acquisition of Israel’s Mobileye is based on the value of data created and compiled by a self- driving car.

Intel Corp Chief Executive Brian Krzanich said thatt information is the key to the deal and may offer itsit first tangible revenue stream through mapping technology.t

Such data could bring in $ 450 billion to $ 750 billionli globally by 2030, according to McKinsey & Co, with such applications as shopping inside cars, vehicles as entertainment centers, or better city planning.n

“Technology companies are hunting for ever morem data. Miles = data,” wrote Morgan Stanley analystly Adam Jonas in a note on Monday to clients after IntelI announced the deal.

It is also unclear if Mobileye will win the data race.r Mobileye claims to have 80 percent of the market of advanced driver assistance systems that can automatically apply brakes or keep a car in its lane.

“That definitely helps fill the revenue opportunity for the next few years while the industry and carmakers move to full automation,” Kathy Winter, general manager of Intel’s automated driving unit, told Reuters.

Mobileye is working on its first commercial map application, Road Experience Management ( REM), which feeds data about a vehicle’s surroundings into a system that updates existing maps in real time.

Mobileye has deals with BMW and Volkswagen, which mean those carmakers’ vehicles can help source the data beginning in 2018 and share in the revenue.

Intel already owns 15 percent of HERE, a digital map consortium made up of Germany’s automakers, which makes the high- definition maps that are updated by Mobileye’s REM.

Given there are already 15 million cars with its cameras on the road, Mobileye has a “significant early mover advantage” in the high definition mapping industry, Jefferies analyst David Kelley wrote to investors last month.