Tesla Motors (TSLA), Mobileye Breakup Not Over Autopilot Safety, Elon Musk's Company Says

Tesla Motors Inc.'s Autopilot has been in the news a lot of late, and not only because of the vehicles crashes involving (or not) the self-driving system or updates to it that would have prevented at least some of those crashes. On Wednesday, Tesla's erstwhile partner in its Autopilot development, Israeli chipmaker Mobileye, said it had decided to split with the Elon Musk-owned company because of concerns over Autopilot, with Tesla "pushing the envelope in terms of safety." Speaking to Reuters, Mobileye Chairman Amnon Shashua said of Autopilot: "It is not designed to cover all possible crash situations in a safe manner. It is a driver assistance system and not a driverless system." In response, a Tesla spokeswoman had initially said the company never advertised its Autopilot as a self-driving technology or its cars as autonomous vehicles.