Foresight for the Future

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Foresight

for the Future

Israeli automotive tech fi rm sets up partnership with U-M.

DAVID ZENLEA SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

If you spot a car operating without a driver on the University of Michigan’s North Campus in the coming months, you might try greeting it with a friendly, Ma nishmah, achi? (What’s up, my brother?) That’s because U-M has entered a yearlong partnership with Israeli startup Foresight to develop autonomous vehicle technology.

The partnership is part of a program called TechLab, which selects companies in the field of self-driving cars to work with teams of elite U-M engineering students. It’s hosted at MCity, the university’s dedicated proving ground for autonomous vehicles.

Foresight, a company founded in 2016 is “very thrilled” by the both the technical help and business opportunities the program provides. It is based in Ness Ziona, south of Tel Aviv. “We get help with development … access to the test facility and access to a network of companies in Michigan,” said Doron Cohadier, vice president of business development for Foresight.

U-M students, for their part, get hands-on training and networking opportunities with companies at the cutting edge of their field. Many students who have taken part in past cohorts now work directly in the burgeoning field of selfdriving technology.

“We’re really proud that it’s reached the entire globe of startups in our industry and created an ecosystem in Southeast Michigan,” said Nick Moroz, assistant director of entrepreneurial practice at U-M’s Center for Entrepreneurship. TechLab looks for companies addressing key challenges facing fully autonomous vehicles, Moroz said. Foresight is focused on improving selfdriving cars’ ability to see in inclement weather and challenging lighting. Its algorithm integrates readings

FORESIGHT

Doron Cohadier A specially equipped Lincoln MKZ, based at Mcity, is an open-source connected and automated research vehicle available to U-M faculty and students, startups and others to help accelerate innovation.

U-M

Nick Moroz

The Mcity Driverless Shuttle carries passengers on U-M’s North Campus.

from multiple cameras as well as infrared sensors to create a detailed threedimensional map of the road ahead. Cohadier noted that infrared sensors are less weather sensitive than optical cameras alone and require less energy to operate than LIDAR (laser) or radar — potentially a key advantage since the vehicles of tomorrow will be predominantly battery powered.

Foresight also said its technology is better than today’s offerings at recognizing objects on the road that don’t fall into clear classifications (Is that blob in the road a tire tread or a small dog?).

MCity provides a safe environment to refine such technology. The 32-acre proving ground, located in UM’s North Campus Research Complex, simulates a wide variety of scenarios that can throw off self-driving cars, from traffic lights and rail crossings to robotic deer. And, of course, Ann Arbor has plenty of inclement weather.

The program kicked off in January and continues through next fall. The pandemic has limited in-person instruction at U-M, as well as international travel, but Foresight’s system is already in the hands of students, Cohadier said, and company representatives look forward to traveling to Michigan during the year to demonstrate their technology.

LINKS WITH ISRAEL

Foresight connected to TechLab via the Michigan Israel Business Accelerator (formerly Michigan Israel Business Bridge), a nonprofit that seeks to help Michigan’s economy by encouraging Israeli companies to set up shop here.

“Foresight and TechLab at Mcity is a perfect example of what we do … we make that connect,” said Bernard Bourgeois, MIBA’s director of ecosystem development. “When Israeli companies expand to the U.S., they think about the coasts. Then they get here and realize — especially if they’re a mobility company — that all their meetings are in Michigan.”

The notion that an Israeli company might contribute to and gain from Michigan’s automotive industry not long ago would have seemed like a joke. (Some may recall the ill-fated Sabra Sport Four, the Israeli-built sport car in the 1960s.) But the journey toward self-driving cars capitalizes on technologies the so-called “startup nation” leads in, including surveillance technology.

“Many products began with the IDF,” said Foresight CEO Haim Siboni. Foresight is itself a spinoff of Israeli defense company Magna (not to be confused with the Canadian automotive supplier of the same name), which provides surveillance at airports, military installations and the like.

The emergence of Israeli autonomous startup MobilEye, acquired by chip maker Intel in 2017, further opened the segment to Israeli innovators, Siboni added.

“They found the automotive market is a big market, whereas for Tzahal [the IDF],it’s a niche market,” he said. “We feel big changes are coming for the car. For us, it’s a very good spinoff.”

MIBA

Bernard Bourgeois

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