Product: Advanced Driver Assist Systems & Autonomous Driving Solutions Founders: Professor Amnon Shashua and Mr. Ziv Aviram Company: Mobileye Year of Foundation: 1999
It is widely known that human error is the most common cause for road traffic accidents worldwide, costing over a million lives every year. In 1999, Prof. Amnon Shashua, a researcher at the Hebrew University, sought to apply computer vision technology to help eliminate road fatalities and injuries. He joined forces with Ziv Aviram, and they founded Mobileye and set up the company’s R&D headquarters in Jerusalem.
At first, the company developed algorithms, and a custom processor chip called EyeQ®. Mobileye’s key technological breakthroughs lie in the use of a single forward-facing camera to support numerous applications, and the ability to bundle those features together to run simultaneously on a single processor.
The system is part of the technology category called Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS), which Mobileye revolutionized by offering a more affordable camera-based product with multiple functions on a single hardware platform, instead of the radar and multiple sensors necessary until then. The ADAS system can anticipate imminent collisions with other vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, and read roadway markings and signs.
After years of testing, sales of the chip and software algorithms began to auto manufacturers, and some of Mobileye’s first customers included BMW, General Motors and Volvo, who used them to power features like Automatic Emergency Braking, Lane Keep Assist, and more. Today, Mobileye’s technology is integrated both as factory-fitted technology in new car models, as well as a retro-fit product that offers life-saving warnings to drivers of cars of almost any age or make.
Mobileye technology has been validated to the highest level of safety and accuracy over millions of miles, and today, Mobileye safety solutions are being integrated into hundreds of new vehicle models from over 25 vehicle manufacturers including BMW, Ford, GM, Volvo, Audi, Hyundai and others.
After over 15 years of operation in the ADAS market, Mobileye began to develop its legacy safety features toward a fully autonomous vehicle. In January 2017, Mobileye, BMW and Intel announced the intention to engage in serial production of autonomous vehicles by 2021. In August 2017, Intel completed the acquisition of Mobileye for 15.3 billion dollars.
Mobileye operates its machine vision development center in Jerusalem, employing over 700 employees, including more than 450 engineers. In addition, the company has offices in the US, Germany, Japan, and China.
