Mobileye, the Israeli autonomous vehicle technology company, is shutting down its lidar sensor development division, impacting 100 employees. While some workers may be reassigned within the company, most are expected to be laid off.
The move will lead to significant cost savings for Mobileye, as the division’s development expenses were projected to reach $60 million without generating any revenue. Lidar sensors are an advanced technology used in autonomous vehicles, but Mobileye has yet to complete its own development and has been using sensors from Israeli company Innoviz, which has a market value of just $88 million. Given the high costs and time invested—over $100 million to date—Mobileye may opt to acquire Innoviz instead of continuing in-house development.
Lidar technology, once seen as a promising field, has seen a decline in cost in recent years, while advances in artificial intelligence have raised questions about its necessity. Five years ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk declared lidar non-essential for autonomous vehicles, stating it was only useful for redundancy. Lidar, a type of radar, allows vehicles to “see” in challenging conditions like darkness or severe weather.
In a statement, Mobileye explained, "As part of our ongoing evaluation of our long-term technology roadmap, we believe the next generation of FMCW lidar is less critical to our future eyes-off systems. This assessment is based on several factors, including significant progress in our computer vision-based EyeQ6 platform, improved clarity on the performance of our imaging radar technology, and a sharper-than-expected decline in time-of-flight lidar unit costs from external suppliers."
Mobileye will continue developing its imaging radar system, which is set for production next year and remains a strategic priority.
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A worker tends to systems in the back of a Mobileye autonomous driving test vehicle, at the Mobileye headquarters in Jerusalem
(Photo: Reuters)
The closure of the lidar division marks another major shift for Mobileye in 2024, as the company seeks to reduce expenses. Earlier this year, Mobileye shut down its long-standing driver-assistance alert system division, which originally launched the company, leading to 130 job cuts, 90 of which were in Israel. Following this latest round of layoffs, Mobileye’s workforce will drop to approximately 3,500 employees, though the company still has open positions listed.
The restructuring comes amid a challenging period for Mobileye, which has faced a slowdown since late 2023. Last week, the company’s market value fell below $10 billion for the first time, amid speculation that Intel, which owns 88% of Mobileye, might sell its stake to address liquidity issues.
With a sharp decline in revenue, Mobileye has repeatedly lowered its annual sales forecast, now projected between $1.6 billion and $1.8 billion—$1 billion below initial expectations. The company posted an operating loss nearing $100 million in the last quarter. Mobileye’s stock has plunged 73% since the beginning of the year, bringing its market value down to $9.3 billion.