Porsche Moving Cars to Hands-Off Driving

The world-famous sportscar maker from Stuttgart, Germany, has confirmed it is pairing with the Israeli autonomous driving company that was spun out of Intel in 2022.

Porsche plans to use Mobileye’s ‘eyes on, hands off’ Supervision tech to deliver advanced driver assistance systems on production cars.

Supervision enables drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel on certain roads – where local regulations allow – and also follows point-to-point navigation routes chosen by the driver. Autonomous lane changing and automated overtaking of slower vehicles on multi-lane roads are feasible, too.

It’s hailed by Mobileye as the most advanced driver-assist system offered by the company, and its functionality is delivered by a suite of tech that includes 11 high-definition cameras, long and short-range radar, comprehensive mapping and two EyeQ chips.

However, Porsche is extremely mindful that the driving experience will remain particularly important for the brand’s customers, and so will take a leading role in the integration and tuning of the Mobileye kit.

Oliver Blume, chairman of the executive board of Porsche, explained: “Mobileye is one of the world’s leading providers of automated driving functions. This technology will help us forge ahead with our strategy of modern, sporty luxury. We are combining an outstanding product with a highly personal experience.”

Michael Steiner, board member for research and development at Porsche added: “In most situations, drivers will continue to want to drive a Porsche themselves in the future – and will be able to do so at any time. This said, there are certain aspects of partially automated driving that we are interested in. Intelligent systems like Mobileye Supervision technology can aid the driver in everyday situations – for example by not having to keep their hands on the wheel the entire time in traffic jams.”

And the door remains open for Supervision to find its way into other vehicles from Porsche’s parent company, the Volkswagen Group, as it has made clear. “The technology can also be used by other group brands as a platform solution,” it tweeted.

The group has been seeking new paths to automation since it ended its investment in Pittsburgh-based start-up Argo AI last year. Its software unit is working with robotics company Horizon in China, and it is also working in tandem with Bosch in Germany.