Inside a simple computer simulation, a group of self-driving cars are performing a crazy-looking maneuver on a four-lane virtual highway. Half are trying to move from the right-hand lanes just as the other half try to merge from the left. It seems like just the sort of tricky thing that might flummox a robot vehicle, but they manage it with precision. I'm watching the driving simulation at the biggest artificial-intelligence conference of the year, held in Barcelona this past December. What's most amazing is that the software governing the cars' behavior wasn't programmed in the conventional sense at all.

The road to self-driving cars got a little more crowded Tuesday, as Mobileye (MBLY) announced it will partner with General Motors (GM) supplier Delphi Automotive (DLPH) to jointly develop off-the-shelf autonomous driving technology for automakers. Mobileye, a Tesla supplier of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), last month disclosed that its partnership with Tesla was ending. Mobileye is a leader in the development and production in computer vision systems, mapping and machine learning, while Delphi, a General Motors spinoff, is a leader in automated driving software, sensors and systems integration. Mobileye recently announced that it would team with BMW (BMWYY) and Intel (INTC) to develop a fully automated driving system, a partnership that one analyst called a "turning point" for autonomous vehicles.

"Highly autonomous cars and everything they connect to will require powerful and reliable electronic brains to make them smart enough to navigate traffic and avoid accidents," Intel Chief Executive Brian Krzanich said last Friday at a joint news conference announcing the alliance. It is too early to say which other carmakers would join the alliance, BMW Chief Executive Harald Krueger said at a news conference on the outskirts of Munich on Friday. But creating common technology standards would help all manufacturers update their vehicles faster, Intel Chief Executive Brian Krzanich said. Auto camera and software maker Mobileye will supply its Road Experience Management (REM) technology and make its latest EyeQ5 chip available to be deployed on Intel computing platforms.