Mobileye Ends Partnership with Tesla

Auto-safety supplier Mobileye N.V., is ending its supply agreement with Tesla Motors Inc. following a high-profile traffic fatality in May that has been connected to semi-autonomous technology it sold to the Silicon Valley electric-vehicle maker.

Mobileye supplies camera-based advanced driver-assistance safety systems that help a vehicle steer or follow behind another car or brake on its own. The Israeli company has agreements with more than a dozen auto makers, but its relationship with Tesla had initially helped bring it to the attention of auto analysts and Wall Street. General Motors Co., Nissan Motor Co., BMW AG and Hyundai Motor Group make up more than 60% of its sales.

Mobileye will no longer provide computer chips and algorithms to Tesla beyond the current product cycle due to apparent disagreements about how the technology was deployed in the auto maker’s “autopilot" system. It is unclear when the contract ends, but a new Mobileye system–called the EyeQ4–comes out in 2018.

The friction between Mobileye and Tesla reflects the tension between suppliers that bring cutting-edge technology to the auto industry and the makers they serve. Unlike agreements for more-conventional parts, such as steering wheels, a growing number of tech suppliers demand more control over how the technology is used in the automobiles it goes into. Mike Ramsey, The Wall Street Journal