Mobileye CEO Amnon Shashua to step down in leadership transition

Mobileye said Amnon Shashua will step down as chief executive once a successor is appointed and has been offered the chairman role as part of a planned leadership transition. Shashua, who founded the Jerusalem company in 1999, has led Mobileye for 27 years and will remain a director until the handoff is complete.

The board said it will hire an executive search firm and run a comprehensive process to choose the next chief executive. Mobileye said the chairman post would allow Shashua to stay involved in research, technology and long-term innovation while supporting the company’s next phase of growth.

The transition carries more weight than a routine succession because Mobileye is moving beyond its core advanced driver-assistance systems business. Reuters said the company is expanding into robotaxi service and robotics, including humanoid robotics, while also warning of a weaker third quarter forecast. That combination makes the leadership change a test of whether Mobileye can persuade investors that it can fund a more capital-intensive future without losing the discipline that built its business.

The market reacted quickly. The Times of Israel reported Mobileye shares rose 8 percent in premarket trading after the announcement. Reuters noted that Shashua’s departure would close out a run that began when he took Mobileye public and continued through Intel’s acquisition of the company in a deal worth more than $15 billion.

Mobileye’s succession plan now puts the burden on the board to find an executive who can manage the company’s existing driver-assistance franchise while pushing into markets that carry more technical, financial and execution risk. Shashua’s move to chairman keeps him in the room, but it also marks a clear shift in where day-to-day accountability will sit as Mobileye tries to prove that its next chapter can match the scale of its first.