Autotox technology.
The car will recognize traffic lights, other cars and bikes/manufacturer website
In the days of difficulty in raising funds, dealing with employees recruited into the reserves and a wave of layoffs, another blow to the local high-tech industry, and especially to the auto-tech companies: the Israeli Autotox announced that its acquisition by the American Qualcomm will not come to fruition.
The value of the deal was supposed to reach about 350 million dollars.
The company's official announcement from Kfar Neter in Sharon stated: "We thank Qualcomm for its intention to acquire Autotox. We have found partners in our vision to save thousands of people every year through V2X. We are disappointed that the transaction failed to receive the required regulatory approvals and as a result will not be completed."
The opposition to the deal was led by the European Commission, which opened an investigation against it last August, even before the outbreak of the war.
The Europeans claimed that it was a merger between the two leading companies in the world in the field of V2X, communication technology for cars, in order to transmit information within a range of hundreds of meters between them and between them and the road infrastructure.
This is non-cellular communication, which has critical consequences for driving safety: knowing before a bend that there is a traffic jam after which the driver does not see yet and needs to slow down, or allowing vehicles in autonomous driving mode to coordinate between them to change lanes and cross intersections.
The professional term is V2X, meaning communication between vehicles and anything else.
Autotox employees after the announcement of the sale/Eyal Tuag
This is a new technological field that will only penetrate cars in the coming years, and Autotox, which participated in the design of the global standards, is expected to be one of the main players in it, such as Mobileye in the field of computer vision for cars and autonomous driving, and Inobiz in the field of laser radars (lidar). In fact, in many cars the three will be found side by side in the years Next.
Autotox, founded in 2009 by On Haran and managed by Hagai Ziss, has already reported that it has a contract with a large manufacturer whose name it did not reveal to integrate its technology into the cars it will produce from 2025, and that it is conducting talks with 7 other manufacturers. To date, the company has recruited About 150 million dollars, in investments from Delek Motors, an importer of Mazda, Ford and BMW, Hyundai, Samsung, and funds such as Amitayi Ventures, Vintage, etc. Last year it reported that its order backlog exceeded 200 million dollars and it employs Today about 120 employees in Israel and abroad.
Now the management of Autotex and its shareholders will have to decide whether to lead to a sale to a company that is not involved in the field and with which a deal can get the necessary approvals, or to try to grow on its own in the field against Qualcomm which tried to purchase it.
According to its reports, Autotox now has contracts to supply V2X components to 10 car manufacturers and one electric bike manufacturer.
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