Intel Sees Yogitech Buy as Taking Its Autonomous Systems Efforts to ‘Next Level’

Intel estimates that 30 percent of the IoT “market segment” by 2020 will require “functional safety” such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), said Ken Caviasca, vice president-platform engineering and development in Intel’s IoT Group, in a Tuesday blog post. That was Intel’s rationale for acquiring Yogitech, an Italy-based "expert in semiconductor functional safety and related standards,” Caviasca said. Acquiring Yogitech “furthers our efforts to win in ADAS, robotics and autonomous machines for market segments like automotive, industrial and other IoT systems that require functional safety and high performance,” he said. “For years, Intel has been providing high-performance IoT systems that allow people and businesses to make better-informed decisions. The industry is now moving from automating data to inform better decisions, to automating actions informed by real-time data. You can see this evolution in the autonomous vehicle prototypes that nearly all have Intel inside. Functional safety is a requirement for these and other IoT customers. We see the combination of high performance and functional safety as a natural evolution of Intel’s IoT platform and strategy.” Intel is confident that the Yogitech acquisition, terms of which weren't disclosed, “will take our autonomous systems efforts to the next level,” though “we’re not ready to share product roadmap details yet,” Caviasca said.