Israeli Tech Protects Pedestrians from Vehicular Collisions

An Israeli technology called Eye-Net is making it safer to walk and drive in busy urban areas.

By: Brian Blum, Israel21c.org

Automotive technology companies building collision detection systems abound, but usually they’re intended only for the vehicle, such as Innoviz, Cognata, Oryx Vision and Autotalks.

Foresight Automotive’s Eye-Net is different: It can send an alert to both the vehicle driver and any pedestrians who may be in harm’s way.

For a demonstration in the Israeli city of Ashdod, Foresight partnered with Tel Aviv-based NoTraffic, which develops traffic-management systems for cities using sensors deployed at traffic lights.

Eye-Net was integrated with NoTraffic’s smart system to promising results. “The trial results proved that the number of accidents can be significantly reduced,” said Smadar Itzkovich, head of Industrial Development for the Ashdod municipality and the city’s Smart Mobility Living Lab.

The trial consisted of several accident simulations involving multiple vehicles and pedestrians. The pedestrians had Foresight’s Eye-Net app installed on their mobile devices. Eye-Net sent out real-time alerts in order to prevent a collision.

The trial also tested what happens when not everyone is using the Eye-Net application. In those cases, NoTraffic’s sensors at the test intersection identified any non-connected drivers or pedestrians and transmitted the information to the connected drivers using the Eye-Net system.

All data on cars and pedestrians was streamed in real time to a control center that displayed the location and time of occurrence of the simulated collisions on a map.

“Foresight met all the predefined objectives and indicators for the real-time use of the Eye-Net system in a manner that enabled all road users to brake safely and on time,” the company reported.

The trial positions Foresight and NoTraffic as important players in the self-driving future, where safety has been called into question following a fatal accident between a self-driving Uber vehicle and a pedestrian in Arizona earlier this year.

While the Foresight-NoTraffic trial probably would not have prevented that accident, which took place when the victim was walking her bike across a busy street outside a crosswalk and far from traffic lights, NoTraffic CEO Tal Kreisler called the Ashdod trial “a significant milestone that sets the basis for preparing the roads for a connected and autonomous world by using advanced technology that can be deployed today.”

The Israeli Ministry of Transport and the Ayalon Highway company also participated in the trial as part of a national plan to promote smart transportation in Israel.

Foresight Automotive was founded in 2015. It is a division of Ness Ziona-headquartered Foresight Autonomous Holdings.