'Smart car' tech to get boost from US-Israel collaboration

Move over, flying cars. Lately, governments around the world have been getting serious finding a way to get "smart car" technologies out of the labs and behind the wheels of the average Joe and Jane, and self-driving automobiles are becoming a reality in pilot projects in a number of countries.

American and Israel officials have embarked on an initiative that will look to incorporate self-driving technology for use in both the public and private sector.

According to the Ministry of Transportation on Thursday, both the US and Israeli governments are embarking on an initiative that will invest $20 million toward the creation of a Netanya-based center, solely dedicated to the development of "autonomous" car technologies.

It will employ a total of 80 researchers, half Israeli and half American.

Part of the Memorandum of Cooperation, signed by Transportation Minister Israel Katz and US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx on Monday, will include advising on a planned "Center of Excellence" in Netanya, which along with the autonomous vehicle research, collaboration will include combatting safety issues, especially involving cyber security, as well as sharing information on how to partner public and private sectors together in the field.

Katz called the advancement toward self-driving cars "a substantial change" compared with the previous 100 years' worth of "incremental" progress. He said that the technology developed could provide "significant benefits to social welfare – saving lives, reducing crashes, congestion, fuel consumption and pollution, while increasing mobility for the disabled."

The innovation center Netanya, he said, "will position the city in the select group of leading cities in this field in the world."

Following Foxx's last visit to Israel in November, Israeli company Mobileye, which produces driver assistance technology and the US Department of Transportation partnered for the Smart City Challenge, in which one American city will get up to $40 million to integrate "smart car" technology into their public transportation networks. The seven finalist cities in the running are Pittsburg, PA, Columbus, OH, Austin, TX, Denver, CO, San Francisco, CA, Portland, OR and Kansas City, MO.

Source: 'Smart car' tech to get boost from US-Israel collaboration