Israel AV Mobility Newsletter | July 2021
During July we had the honor to launch our new Executive Interview Channel of TheAutonomous! After many requests to have a more personal in-depth discussion, we had the honor to host Yaniv Sulkes, Vice President at Hailo, for an exciting conversation about the rapid growth of Hailo with its new AI chip and about the impact of the ‘chip-war’ between China and US.
We also cover the IPO of REE, the new launch of Mobileye in NYC and much more!
TheAutonomous Executive Interview – Hailo:
July 7th: Parking solutions startup Wisesight Technologies (Wisesight) has raised $4 million in a Series A funding. The round was led by private investors from Israel and overseas, and will be used to grow the company, expanding its both Israeli and international operations. Wisesight’s goal is to distribute its PLUG & PLAY product, aiming to make Israel the country with the lowest rate of parking tickets per capita.
July 8th: Developer of in-cabin driver monitoring systems Jungo (Jungo Connectivity) and Micronet (מיקרונט בע”מ) signed an MOU for the development, marketing and sale of an integrated system. The system will combine Micronet’s SmartCam and Jungo’s CoDriver video analytics software and will monitor driver fatigue, distractions and facial recognition. The companies report that the integrated system has recently completed a successful initial examination for an American customer and is being tested these days for additional potential clients.
July 8th: Israel Ministry of Transportation has begun preparing for the operation of autonomous public transportation services and looking for potential candidate companies. The document released by the ministry is a request for information which examines the conditions required to carry out an experiment and the abilities of the candidates. A pilot experiment is intended to take place next year, integrating autonomous vehicles into existing public transportation services in Israel.
July 10th: AI chipmaker Hailo (היילו), partners with an American Industrial Systems (AIS) company, Vecow to launch a combined AI solution – ABP-3000. Vecow’s ultra-slim AI solution will feature the compact Hailo-8™ AI accelerator module, aims to enable faster processing of AI tasks for a broad range of applications in Machine Vision, In-vehicle Computing, Robotic Control, Public Safety and additional Edge AI applications.
July 12th: Provider of driver behavior and safety management solutions for fleets, GreenRoad Technologies (גרין רואד טכנולוג’יס) plans TASE IPO at a valuation of NIS 500 million. The offering is being led by Discount Capital Underwriting, while the startup is controlled by private equity firm Israel Growth Partners (IGP) and another major shareholder Generation Investment Management. GreenRoad is currently active in 60 countries and has 140 fleet managers clients. In 2020, it had revenue totaling $12.6 million (NIS 41 million). In the first half of 2021, its revenue grew by 16-20% in comparison with the first half of 2020.
July 13th: AI-based traffic management platform developer NoTraffic has raised $17.5 million in a Series A financing. The round was led by Nielsen Ventures, with participant of Grove Ventures, Menora Mivtachim Group and Meitav Dash, as well as existing investors lool ventures, Next Gear Ventures and North First Ventures. To date, the company raised a total of $25.5 million. NoTraffic claims that its automated system can drop wait times in half, remove 26,000 tons of emissions and save motorists who are stuck in traffic jams, 4,655 months of time every year!
July 13th: Vehicle data platform provider, Otonomo Technologies (אוטונומו) partners with Mercedes-Benz Connectivity Services to accelerate fleet data migration. As part of the agreement, Otonomo will make available fleet data across 25 countries throughout Europe to fleet management companies and operators, such as delivery companies, service providers, car rental companies and others, so that they can gain instant access to connected vehicle data and improve their productivity and reduce expenses.
July 15th: Electric powertrain solutions provider, IRP Systems partners with Indian automotive systems and component manufacturer, Sona Comstar to develop and commercialize magnet-less e-motors technology for the EV market. IRP will license its TrueDrive technology to Sona Comstar for manufacturing of the system exclusively in India, expecting to start mass production in 2023.
July 20th: As part of its strategy to develop and deploy its technology, Mobileye expands its autonomous vehicle testing program to New York City. Mobileye plans to launch this year testing fleets in additional cities around the globe, including Detroit, Paris, Shanghai and Tokyo. The company launched its first test vehicles in Jerusalem in 2018, followed by Munich in 2020.
July 25th: REE Automotive (אוטומוטיב REE) has completed a Nasdaq SPAC merger with 10X Capital Venture Acquisition Corp. at $3.1 billion valuation. The total amount raised by the company was $288 million, less than originally expected, after some shareholders in the SPAC decided not to participate in the merger deal. The merged company is now traded on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol REE. Among its shareholders are The Phoenix Holdings Ltd., Delek Automotive Systems, Mobileye co-founder Ziv Aviram, RAD Biomed, Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd., Ari Raavad and the founders.
Earlier on July, REE announced a strategic collaboration with JB Poindexter & Co Business Unit, EAVX, to develop commercial electric vehicles. The companies will develop zero-emission, commercial EV work trucks for existing and new customers, that will integrate the REEcorners™ and JBPCO commercial vehicle body solutions. REE and EAVX will also grow their joint customer base and bring EVs to North America markets that will be ‘Powered by REE.’ EAVX provides chassis solution for the commercial vehicle fleets and help them bring their electric and alternative fuel vehicles to customers.
July 27th: Automotive cybersecurity risk assessment solution provider Cybellum (סייבלום), partners with Toyota Tsusho to provide automated cyber risk assessment for Japanese automotive manufacturers. The partnership will introduce Cybellum’s Cyber Digital Twins platform to the Japanese automotive OEM and suppliers to speed up for WP.29 regulation readiness. The platform allows automated vulnerability and risk assessment of vehicles and their software-based connected components.
July 28th: Provider of simulation software for ADAS and autonomous vehicles Cognata (קוגנטה), was selected by Chinese autonomous intelligent technology company ECARX as its simulation and validation partner. Cognata’s simulation platform was chosen to accelerate development and deployment of ECARX’s intelligent driving offerings in China and abroad. Cognata announced last month a partnership with Canadian AV and ADAS solutions provider LeddarTech and is considering a TASE IPO since April this year.
July 28th: Teleoperation systems developer, Ottopia אוטופיה)) was selected by American autonomous vehicle company Motional to support the deployment of its robotaxi fleets. Motional will use Ottopia’s teleoperation technology to conduct remote vehicle assistance (RVA) when operating its fully driverless SAE Level 4 autonomous vehicles.
Sources: Calcalist, CTech, New-Tech Magazine ,Globes, TechCrunch, Geektime, CISION PR Newswire, businesswire
