������ý

Amnon Shashua, CEO of Mobileye and chairman of Mentee. (Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg)

[Stay on top of transportation news: .]

Self-driving car systems company Mobileye Global is acquiring Israeli startup Mentee Robotics in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $900 million, as it looks to develop humanoid robots.

The deal comprises $612 million in cash and as many as 26,229,714 shares of Mobileye Class A common stock, according to the company. It is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026.��

The acquisition is notable for its size and founder overlap between the two companies. Both were co-founded by Israeli computer scientist Amnon Shashua, currently CEO of Mobileye and chairman of Mentee. Another Mentee co-founder, Shai Shalev-Schwartz, is chief technology officer at Mobileye.��

Shashua recused himself from the decision, which was approved by Mobileye’s board and its biggest shareholder, Intel Corp., Mobileye said.

RELATED: AI Takes the Spotlight Again at CES

The acquisition comes after Mobileye struck a deal with an unnamed U.S. automaker to install its safety software in 9 million vehicles. Shares were up 2.5% at close of trading Jan. 5.

Mentee, formed in 2022, has raised $50 million to date at an undisclosed valuation.��

Carmakers are increasingly experimenting with making general-purpose humanoid robots. That includes Tesla Inc.’s Optimus and Hyundai Motor Co.'s acquisition of robot company Boston Dynamics, as well as a major push into the sector by Chinese automotive companies. Still, the technology has limitations. Humanoid robots have a tendency to malfunction, cost a lot to make and have limited battery and weight capacity.

RELATED: Hyundai Showcases Humanoid Robot for Work in Car Factories

Robots are a growth area for Mobileye, Shashua told Bloomberg News. “There are a lot of synergies, and it makes sense to put them under the same roof,” he said.

Mentee’s technology is still in development, and the startup has been in discussions with customers on proofs of concept.��But one area where humanoid robots may be useful is in assembling cars, a growing market that is expected to reach $5 billion in 2035, according to a report by Bloomberg Intelligence. Despite the growing interest, existing models “operate at about half the efficiency of humans in complex tasks” and cost around $150,000, and companies can expect a return on investment after about a decade, according to the report.��

Mentee will continue to operate independently for at least two years and will gain access to Mobileye’s customer base as part of the deal. That includes the world’s largest carmakers, said Shashua. The startup will begin rolling out humanoids for fulfillment centers and factories, he said.��

“There’s a lot of overlap with customers, because if we’re saying that the first generation will go to fulfillment centers and production plants, who’s producing? Carmakers are producing,” he said.

Mentee hopes to develop humanoids for household use by the end of the decade, Shashua said, with Mobileye helping with manufacturing and production. The CEO said he expects the price of the humanoids could drop below $20,000 if production ramps up to 100,000 robots.

Inside Mentee

At the entrance of Mentee’s offices in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv, several decommissioned humanoids swing from rope. “This is the graveyard for the old robots,” explains CEO Lior Wolf.

Inside, engineers train the latest model — a sleek, life-size black humanoid — to remove a battery connected to another humanoid’s back and replace it with a charged one. These batteries can last several hours and recharge within 40 minutes, according to Wolf.��

Though the company is only 4 years old and employs fewer than 100 workers, nearly all of the hardware and software components — such as the actuators, batteries, robotic hands and algorithms powering the robots — are developed in-house, according to Wolf.��

The company’s AI team works on a simulation, which shows dozens of humanoids performing a task from various angles. “We need to minimize the gap between simulation and reality, the sim-to-real gap,” said Wolf. “Training inside of a simulator is not that difficult, but whether it would walk in the real world afterward, this is the big challenge.”

“This is why we have complete vertical integration of everything here,” he said. “We have control over all the components, and we also have algorithms that make sure that the gap is as narrow as possible.”

Those challenges were on display during a demonstration of the battery swap. In the first attempt, a Mentee humanoid shuffled toward another robot and removed the battery, placed it on the rack, but dropped the new battery while trying to position it. It successfully replaced the battery during the second attempt.��

Want more news? Listen to today's daily briefing below��or go here for more info: