Israel Active

Of 6,000 active startups and companies in Israel, just 50 are in the maritime category. But now TheDOCK Innovation Hub has begun working with Danish shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk to co-create the next billion-dollar success in next generation logistics, trade and supply chains.

I reported previously on Israeli startup Trax with its image recognition and analysis technology. Trax has just received an injection of $125 million to help it continue to enhance its vision technology at its Tel Aviv development center and explore engineering options in China.

Israeli shipping giant Zim is to jointly operate lines between Asia and the US East Coast with vessel operators Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). The accord will run for seven years.

I’ve reported previously on Israeli sensor company Anagog. Now Skoda, Volkswagen’s Czech subsidiary, is investing $1.5 million in Anagog. Porsche (Skoda’s sister company) and Daimler are already invested in Anagog.

German airline Lufthansa is starting twice-weekly flights from Munich and Frankfurt, in Germany, to Eilat, Ovda Airport, in Southern Israel, starting from 28 Oct 2018. They will be the first flights to Eilat by Lufthansa.

Up to 100,000 passengers are estimated to pass through Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport during the busiest days of July and August, according to Israel’s Ministry of Transportation. The expected total of 5.3 million summer passengers represents a 15% increase on the same period last year.

Korea’s Hyundai Motor and Israel’s Autotalks are partnering to develop the next generation V2X chipset for connected cars.  V2X (Vehicle to external systems) technology improves vehicle and road safety, mobility and is vital for autonomous driving.

I reported previously that Israel’s Cognata had built a 3D Artificial Intelligent (AI) simulation platform to test autonomous cars.  Now German car maker Audi AG is partnering with Cognata to integrate the simulator at all stages of development and production of its vehicles.

Chinese tech giant Baidu is adding Mobileye as a technology provider to its Apollo autonomous driving platform. Mobileye’s Israeli-developed Responsibility Sensitive Safety model - a set of rules for how cars minimize the chance of an accident - will be integrated into Apollo.

The fifth largest commercial bank in the US – U.S. Bank – has selected DECISION Manager from Israel’s Sapiens International to help service its mortgage customers. U.S. Bancorp has 74,000 employees and will use DECISION within its Home Mortgage group.