With a vision of evolving itself beyond a PC company, Intel on Thursday announced its acquiring of computer vision firm, Itseez. The machine learning firm will help in developing better navigation for self-driving cars.
Doug Davis, Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Intel’s IoT group, wrote in a blog post, “This acquisition furthers Intel’s efforts to win in IoT (Internet of Things) market segments like automotive and video. Where the ability to electronically perceive and understand images paves the way for innovation and opportunity.”
Davis further added,
Another fundamental requirement for self-driving cars is the capacity to see and accurately interpret surroundings. One of the technologies necessary to support this capability is computer vision.
It is estimated that American spend around $75 billion an hour driving, which apparently makes self-driving one of the biggest market in the coming time. Stanley Morgan estimates that self-driving motors would deliver $507 billion in annual productivity gain.
Itseez based in San Francisco was founded in 2005 to make computer vision algorithms and software. Along with that, it also includes a suite of algorithms for automobiles called “advanced driver assistance systems.” This unique feature allows car hardware to recognize pedestrians and traffic signs and can help in detecting when a car drifts from its lane.
Apart from the automotive field, Itseez has also developed algorithms for robotics, surveillance, smartphones and sports analytics. Last month, Intel also announced the purchase of Yogitech, another IoT company. Other than this in 2015, it also brought Lantiq, which is known for making chips for smartphones.
Around 40% of Intel total revenue is generated through the data center and IoT Business. IoT has already helped Intel to survive in the time when PC market is seeing a decline in its popularity among the consumers and has contributed about $2.2 billion in revenue growth last year.
Talking about what the future holds for Intel, Doug Davis said, “The future that we are looking at building for our customer is exciting, and along with that the talented team at Itseez will help us to reach a level that we are aspiring for.”
