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24 Cool Technologies Powering the Future of Mobility

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From e-bike kits to vehicle charging stations, ISRAEL21c looks at two dozen companies exhibiting advanced solutions at EcoMotion Week in Tel Aviv.

By: Brian Blum

I was sleepy as I squeezed into my car for the early morning commute from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. Maybe I should have taken the train instead of a private vehicle? I wondered, in a bleary haze. Would my eyes droop as I crawled through terrible traffic, creating a dangerous driving distraction?

The answer was waiting at my destination: EcoMotion, Israel’s largest mobility conference. The annual event, now in its 11th year, attracted some 3,600 attendees, including 800 representatives of international companies from 55 countries.

Among 110 Israeli auto-tech startups on display from May 22-24 in the sprawling exhibit hall were at least two that monitor driver alertness.

I survived my commute, even without the alerts, in order to present you with 24 of the most promising Israeli companies that showed off their wares at this year’s EcoMotion.

Jungo, Cipia – keeping drivers alert

Let’s start with the startups that monitor alertness while driving. Jungo and Cipia (formerly EyeSight) use cameras that can be mounted on the dashboard or on a side panel of the car. The cameras create a 3D map of your face that can determine if your eyes are closing, for how long, and if you’re blinking more than usual (a sign of being tired). They can also see if your seatbelt is fastened.

Let’s start with the startups that monitor alertness while driving. Jungo and Cipia (formerly EyeSight) use cameras that can be mounted on the dashboard or on a side panel of the car. The cameras create a 3D map of your face that can determine if your eyes are closing, for how long, and if you’re blinking more than usual (a sign of being tired). They can also see if your seatbelt is fastened.

Insurance companies and fleets are the first customers for these products, since too many accidents cause difficulty getting ongoing insurance coverage.

Jungo and Cipia provide both a product for OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to integrate up-front and an aftermarket product for fleets to install. Cipia’s new name comes from the occipital lobe of the brain, which “translates” what we see into an understanding of the environment around us.

ITC, NoTraffic, Exelerate – linking traffic signals to real-time data

The last thing drivers want to do is sit waiting at an old-fashioned traffic signal. And yet, 99% of signalized intersections still run on fixed timing plans.

Startups ITC (short for “Intelligent Traffic Control”), NoTraffic and Exelerate all use cameras affixed to traffic lights to determine how many cars are coming from either side and where pedestrians are in the mix in order to adjust the timing of the lights with the efficiency that only smart traffic software can provide.

ITC has partnered with the Tel Aviv municipality, with Netivei Israel (which controls around 700 intersections in Israel) and with an overseas client in Australia. ITC and Exelerate use existing cameras while NoTraffic requires municipalities to install its own cameras.

Skarper – e-bike kit

EcoMotion wasn’t just about cars. Skarper has developed a snap-on/snap-off conversion kit that converts any 10-speed bicycle with a disc brake into pedal-assist electric.

While there are plenty of e-bike conversion kits, Skarper claims that its DiskDrive is the only one with no drag — meaning if the battery runs out and you need to pedal without a boost, you won’t feel the 3-kilo kit is slowing you down. The product should be available to purchase by September for between $1,000 and $1,500.

HopOn – pay for micromobility

Israeli-based international public-transit app Moovit offers an app to pay for your bus and train tickets. For Israeli commuters, HopOn has added public scooters and e-bikes to that mix, and it can be given to employees as a perk – free rides to and from the office.

Ad-free HopOn works on all transit systems in Israel and has installations worldwide for instant payment on cruise ships, health and leisure sites, retirement villages and airlines.

Jupiter-EV – robotic charging stations

Jupiter-EV calls its technology “the future of gas stations.” That is, if gas stations resembled a multi-level parking structure.

The company’s product allows eight to 16 fast DC charging spaces to be collocated in an area less than the equivalent size of three parking spaces. Drivers plug in before the cars are raised into place by robots, and are notified via an app when charging is done and the car is back on the ground, ready to be driven away.

Driivz – charge-spot connections

Looking to build out a charging infrastructure in your community? Driivz is ready to help. The company doesn’t sell charge spots but rather the operating platform to connect and operate them.

You can find Driivz in 30 countries. In Ireland, Driivz software powers 80% of the electric grid. The company has installations in Australia, Japan, Germany, the US and Israel. In the US Driivz powers the EVGo network, the country’s largest, with over 200,000 customers. Driivz also manages billing for more than a million EV drivers.

Zooz – fast charging stations

Formerly known as Chakratec, the Lod-based startup has developed a technology for fast-charging electric vehicles in places where the power grid is not up to handling multiple cars at once. Its patented “flywheel” can speed up charging in a standard plug by up to three times.

A single Zooz box can be connected to up to 10 charge spots – or a single charge spot could have 10 Zooz units super-charging it. The company is testing its tech in Germany and Zichron Ya’akov in Israel. In 2022, Zooz signed a deal to pilot its 10-minute charges at New York’s La Guardia Airport.

Grivo – charge-spot finder

When Israeli electric car network pioneer Better Place went out of business in 2013, car owners were not ready to give up on their plug-in cars. With no battery swap stations and few charging spots, drivers turned to apps like PlugShare, which located other Better Place owners willing to share a charge spot in their garage or backyard.

Grivo updates the concept. You can still use it to find charge spots at someone’s home, but now you can pay for the electrons via the Grivo app – it’s not just altruistic owners looking to help their EV buddies. The charge spot owner gets the lion’s share of the transaction.

For the 30% of EV owners who can’t install a charge spot at home (for example, if they live in an apartment complex), Grivo allows them to reserve a public charge spot. A map indicates if a charge spot is slow or fast and if it’s located near a café or mall.

C2A Security – charging station security

Automotive cybersecurity vendor C2A Security, the only DevSecOps platform (integrating security testing at every stage of the software development process) for carmakers and mobility companies, announced a partnership with Singapore’s EVVO Labs to bring C2A’s platform to EV charging and mobility companies in APAC countries including China, Vietnam and Singapore.

(Israel21C.org)

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