Intel is ramping up its self-driving car efforts.
It seems as tech companies throughout Silicon Valley race to one-up each other’s autonomous vehicle projects, Intel doesn’t want to be left out. Hence the semiconductor maker’s announcement that it’s creating a new self-driving vehicle arm.
The new initiative, called the Automated Driving Group, or ADG, “will be solely dedicated to innovating the future of driving and designing the next generation of advanced driver assist systems and autonomous driving solutions,” according to the company’s announcement.
The group will be led by Senior Vice President Doug Davis.
In an opinion piece posted earlier this month, CEO Brian Krzanich wrote that Intel’s main interest is developing technology to process the data self-driving cars need in order to run — information on everything from road conditions, to traffic congestion, to a driver’s personal music preferences must be tracked and analyzed.
“When it comes to the car of the future and automated driving experiences,” he wrote, “data is literally the new oil. Data has the potential to radically change the way we think about the driving experience: as consumers, as automakers, as technologists and as citizens of our communities.”
Intel Capital, the company’s investment arm, earlier this month announced it will pour more than $250 million into autonomous driving investments over the next two years.
Intel also announced that Tom Lantzsch, former executive vice president of strategy at ARM, has been tapped to lead Intel’s Internet of Things (IoT) Group.
