The surprise announcement by Prof. Amnon Shashua last week that he is stepping down as Mobileye Global Inc (Nasdaq: MBLY) CEO caught the market off guard. Shashua, who has led the auto-tech giant that he founded over the past decade, and built it into an international company, will leave behind a major management vacuum and the question now is who will step into his shoes.
Today Shashua addressed the issue of his successor and revealed details in a talk with employees. Shashua said that the company will significantly expand its operations abroad, and open R&D centers overseas including in the US. “I think we should open those doors and if we have a robotaxi in the US – we should be there. I believe we need to change the balance sheet and recruit more abroad, that’s my personal opinion,” he said.
On his future, Shashua said that he is interested in focusing on robotics now, not cars, and that he will continue to be involved in the company. He also said that there is a chance that the next CEO will be non-Israeli.
A CEO with commercialization and marketing skills
According to the company, Mobileye’s board of directors will hire an external executive search firm and conduct a comprehensive process to select a replacement. It is believed that Mobileye will be looking for a CEO with commercialization and marketing skills, and one who can scale up taking existing technology to market and expand it. It will probably require someone with significant understanding of the market, with operational and logistics capabilities.
One of the new CEO’s challenges will be the company’s independent entry into the robotaxi market, which Mobileye recently announced – Mobileye plans to reach an ambitious goal, a fleet of 17,000 vehicles. This will happen in combination with other suppliers and partners, so another characteristic of the new CEO will be the creation of connections and collaborations.
Talking to analysts last Thursday, Shashua explained that “The next leader needs to present an operational profile to increase opportunities and lead the company to its next stage,” with Shashua contributing on the technology side.
Where will the CEO come from?
The company’s center of gravity is in Israel, and as of the end of 2025 it had 4,200 employees, 3,900 of whom were in Israel. As long as this is the case, it seems likely that a CEO, even if not Israeli, will run the company from Israel.
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How long will it take for a replacement to be appointed? The company did not specify a target date for Shashua’s retirement, so there is currently no urgency, and the process could be prolonged until the board of directors finds the right candidate for them.
Shashua’s expected retirement comes just months after the completion of a stakeholder transaction, in which Mobileye paid $900 million for Mentee Robotics, of which Shashua is one of the founders. Mentee develops AI-based humanoid robots, which expands its activities in the world of physical AI. These are robots that are supposed to, for example, lift loads and sort objects, and in the future could be used as production workers; However, Mentee’s robots will not be launched until 2028.
Shashua’s share of the deal was about $341 million in cash and Mobileye shares, most of which have not yet vested.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on July 27, 2026.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2026.
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