Mobileye, an Israeli autonomous vehicle startup acquired by Intel, is putting its self-driving system to the ultimate test: the mean streets of New York City.
At an event this week, Intel announced that its Mobileye self-driving cars were approved to drive through NYC streets. It’s the only autonomous vehicle testing permit-holder in the city. It’s also the first company to have a dedicated testing program in the country’s most populous municipality.
San Francisco and the Bay Area, along with Arizona, have been the usual testing sites for other companies like Waymo, Cruise, and Aurora.
As the video shows, NYC is full of pedestrians (and jaywalkers!), buses, construction zones, aggressive drivers, double-parked cars, bridges, tunnels, delivery vans, and so much more.
The cars still have a safety driver at the helm, but the cameras (and backup radar and light-detecting LiDAR sensors) are guiding the ride. The driver keeps their hands off the wheel throughout the entire 40-minute drive.
The autonomous drive is unedited so you can see what it’s like for a machine to take on NYC at street level.
