Intel Corp.’s Mobileye division is getting closer to its goal of making self-driving vehicles a mass-market reality.

According to a Reuters report from this morning, the group has landed a massive deal with an unnamed European automaker to supply autonomous driving technology for 8 million cars. The Mobileye executives who spoke to the news agency didn’t divulge the value of the contract. However, they did offer up some information about the project’s technical aspect.

Mobileye will supply the unnamed automaker with technology for building two kinds of self-driving vehicles. Some of the models are set to possess so-called Level 2 autonomy, meaning they will have the ability to steer themselves for long stretches at a time, but only in certain circumstances and under the human driver’s closer supervision. The other vehicles, in turn, are slated to feature Level 3 autonomy, which will allow customers to completely relinquish control when traffic allows.

The cars’ navigation features will be powered by an upcoming chip called the EyeQ5. Set to hit the market in 2021, it’s the planned successor to the EyeQ4, a processor specifically built to power autonomous vehicles that Mobileye plans to launch a few weeks from now. The latter unit is already finding use in the field.

Against the backdrop of the report about its massive new car contract, Mobileye today revealed that it’s road-testing vehicles featuring the EyeQ4 near its Jerusalem headquarters. The group claims that the cars possess Level 4 autonomy. This classification is given only to a vehicle that can safely navigate the roads without any human input.

Mobileye expects models with Level 4 autonomy to start mass production in 2021. Level 3 technology, however, is set to become available much sooner. The Intel subsidiary is currently working with several leading automakers, including General Motors Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, to launch vehicles featuring Level 3 autonomy by next year.

Mobileye is in a race against several other suppliers to become the leading provider of navigation technology to the nascent autonomous vehicle market. Its efforts form the core pillar of a broader plan by Intel, which makes the EyeQ processors used in the group’s systems, to monetize the demand for computing gear that the rise of self-driving cars will create. Rival chipmaker Nvidia Corp. is also working aggressively to address this opportunity.

Image: Intel