08 January 2026 | News
Image Courtesy: Public Domain
Mobileye announced entry into a definitive agreement to acquire Mentee Robotics Ltd., an AI-first humanoid robotics company with a third-generation, vertically integrated humanoid robot. This transaction would combine Mobileye’s advanced AI technology and global production expertise with Mentee’s breakthrough humanoid platform and deep AI talent, creating a global leader in physical AI across two transformative markets: autonomous driving and humanoid robotics.
Strong traction in advanced vehicle autonomy and core ADAS technology has resulted in a current automotive revenue pipeline of $24.5 billion over the next eight years, up more than 40 percent compared to January 2023.1 This acquisition broadens the scope of the business with a decisive step toward Physical Artificial Intelligence in general: systems designed to understand context, infer intent, interact naturally with humans and act safely and effectively in the physical world in an economically scalable manner. The evolution of Mobileye’s autonomy stack over the last few years beyond goal-driven navigation toward holistic, context-aware and intent-aware reasoning, provides a natural foundation for general-purpose robots designed to operate productively alongside humans while meeting uncompromising safety requirements.
This acquisition will accelerate Mentee’s go-to-market strategy, with first on-site proof-of-concept deployments with customers expected in 2026. These deployments are intended to operate autonomously without teleoperation, and series production and commercialization are targeted for 2028.
The total consideration for the acquisition will be $900 million (subject to certain adjustments), comprising approximately $612 million in cash and up to about 26.2 million shares of Mobileye Class A common stock subject to adjustment based on the vesting of any Mentee options prior to the closing. The foregoing amounts are not final and are subject to adjustment pursuant to the terms of the Share Purchase Agreement. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026.
Remarkable Progress Made in Startup Phase
Mentee has made remarkable progress in the four years since its founding, designing and prototyping a cost-efficient humanoid platform engineered for scalable real-world deployment. The platform combines in-house hardware and software design, with an AI architecture built around human-to-robot mentoring, few-shot learning, and simulation-first training. Unlike systems relying on large-scale real-world data collection or continuous teleoperation, Mentee’s approach is designed to enable robots to acquire new skills from natural demonstrations and intent cues over time, to deliver predictable, safe interactions with humans and objects while preserving an optimized price-to-usefulness ratio.
Mentee’s Core Moat: Rapid Learning with Robust, Cost-Efficient Utility
Mentee humanoids are engineered to deliver robust out-of-the-box functionality, including the integration of advanced scene understanding and natural instruction following, end-to-end autonomous task execution without teleoperation, and reliable locomotion, navigation, and safe manipulation of rigid objects. Development is progressing rapidly towards “few-shot generalization” which is designed to enable robots to learn and execute new skills and tasks after only a few human demonstrations. This capability will enable rapid deployment of humanoid robots across a wide range of real-world tasks, as both a labor multiplier and a collaborative presence alongside people.
Two Pillars Driving Mentee’s Technology Advantage
This deep vertical integration minimizes the Sim2Real gap, enables 24/7 operational availability, provides versatility for a wide range of applications, and supports cost-effective volume manufacturing.
The Convergence of Vehicle Autonomy and Humanoid Robotics
Autonomous driving and humanoid robotics share the same fundamental challenges: operating reliably and usefully in a world built by humans, for humans. Success requires meeting strict performance requirements, delivering proven and verifiable safety, operating efficiently on edge-compute platforms, and achieving scalable, economically viable deployment.
Consequently, both domains rely on a common Physical Artificial Intelligence stack that spans multimodal perception, world modeling, intent-aware planning, precision control, and decision-making under uncertainty.
Acquisition of Mentee Enables Key Strategic Synergies
The acquisition of Mentee by Mobileye is expected to catalyze technological synergies that advance Physical AI across robotics and autonomous vehicles.
By unifying breakthroughs across humanoid robotics and autonomous vehicles, Mobileye and Mentee create a compounding advantage in Physical AI, where progress in one domain systematically reinforces the other.
“Today marks a new chapter for robotics and automotive AI, and the beginning of Mobileye 3.0,” said Prof. Amnon Shashua, President and CEO of Mobileye. “By combining Mentee’s breakthroughs in humanoid robotics with Mobileye’s expertise in automotive autonomy, and its proven ability to productize advanced AI, we have a unique opportunity to lead the evolution of physical AI across robotics and autonomous vehicles on a global scale.”
Prof. Lior Wolf, CEO of Mentee Robotics, said: “I am immensely proud of what Mentee’s multidisciplinary team has accomplished in just four years. We set out to build a platform that combines cutting-edge AI with deeply integrated hardware to make humanoid robots truly useful in real-world environments. Joining forces with Mobileye gives us access to unparalleled AI infrastructure and commercialization expertise, accelerating our mission to bring scalable, safe, and cost-effective humanoid solutions to market.”
The acquisition was approved by Mobileye’s Board of Directors, following the recommendation of a strategic transaction committee consisting of independent directors, and Intel Corp., Mobileye’s largest shareholder. Intel also approved the acquisition as the sole Class B shareholder of Mobileye pursuant to Mobileye’s Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation. Prof. Shashua, who also serves as the Chairman, Co-Founder and a significant shareholder of Mentee, recused himself from the Mobileye Board’s consideration and approval of the transaction.
Mentee will operate as an independent unit within Mobileye, preserving continuity while leveraging Mobileye’s advanced AI training infrastructure to accelerate integration of AI software and hardware capabilities. The transaction is expected to modestly increase Mobileye’s operating expenses in 2026 by a low-single-digit percentage.
Prof. Shashua will share more on Mobileye’s vision for physical AI during his presentation at CES 2026, which will be livestreamed here at 1:45 PM PST/4:45 PM EST today, January 6th, and available for replay thereafter.
For further information regarding the terms and conditions contained in the definitive agreement for the acquisition, please see Mobileye’s Current Report on Form 8-K, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with this transaction.
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC serves as financial advisor and Erdinast Ben Nathan Toledano and Davis Polk and Wardwell LLP serve as Israeli and US legal counsel to Mobileye, respectively. Shibolet & Co. and Paul Hastings LLP serve as Israeli and US legal counsel to Mentee, respectively.
1 Mobileye’s revenue for the periods presented represent estimated volumes based on projections of future production volumes that were provided by our current and prospective OEMs at the time of sourcing the design wins for the models related to those design wins. See the disclaimer under the heading “Forward-Looking Statements” below for important limitations applicable to these estimates.