Minister: Mobileye to Be Required on All New Cars

Intel’s investment in the Mobileye road safety system is paying off already, at least in Israel. At a meeting congratulating Mobileye CEO Ziv Aviram on the buyout of the company by Intel for over $15 billion last week, Transport Minister Yisrael Katz said that all new cars in Israel would be required to have safety systems like the one made by Mobileye.

The new order will go into effect at the beginning of 2018, Katz said. The Mobileye system, already installed on large numbers of new cars, alerts drivers if they get too close to the car in front of them, and if they are veering out of their lane – two actions that could reduce the number of road accidents in Israel, said Katz. “I already saw the life-saving potential of this technology years ago, and was impressed by the company’s desire to save lives,” said Katz. “I believe that the technology being developed by Mobileye will lead to a revolution no less than that of the communications revolution.”

Aviram said that he hoped Israel would be an example to the world of how to fight road accidents. “The first time I met with Minister Katz I explained to him how our system worked, and he understood right away what we were trying to do,” said Aviram. “He decided then and there to take on the very difficult task of trying to end road accidents.” Katz agreed, saying that he had been persuaded that the Mobileye system could save lives “and reduce the number of accidents by tens of percents.”