6 September 2013
The driving forces behind this latest and most important development in car safety technology that goes under the title of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle- to-infrastructure (V2I) technology are Nir Sasson and Onn Haran, co-founders of Autotalks, situated in Kfar Netter, close to the coastal city of Netanya.
The chips that Autotalks have developed for this ultra-important purpose, the CRATON communication processor and the PLUTON transceiver utilize powerful sensors capable of transmitting electronic signals between cars within a defined radius, for example 100 meters. Any vehicles fitted with the V2V technology will have the capability of analyzing the relative speed and distances between any other vehicles within its predetermined radius. Once the sensors calculate that there may be even the more remote risk of collision, it will send out a warning signal either in audio or visual format to the vehicle’s driver through a dash- mounted GPS unit.
The challenges of developing such a technology have been taken on by many companies from all over the world. Autotalks have succeeded in addresses the challenge through their technology’s ability to verify correct behavior in the presence of number of surrounding vehicles, a process which is, understandably, extremely complicated.
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Before releasing their technology, Autotalks carried out extensive network test simulations, equaling if not emulating situations that drivers find themselves on a day-to-day basis having to deal with across the world.
The two devices developed by Autotalks are considered to comprise the only solution currently available that is capable covering the entire functionality of vehicle-to-vehicle communication.
Autotalks anticipate seeing their accident prevention technology being in widespread commercial use by the beginning of 2015. In order to achieve their goals, Autotalks, a privately held company has received considerable financial backing from leading venture capital firms, both in Israel and across the world. These backers include Amiti Ventures, Gemini Israel Funds, Global Investment, Magma Venture Partners and Mitsui & Co.
Although the company was founded in Israel and his head office is based there, Autotalks also operates local offices in Germany, Japan, Korea, North America, Spain and Sweden. Cofounder Nir Sasson served in the Israeli army as part of an elite R&D unit, before going on to graduate with a B.Sc. and M.Sc in Electrical Engineering from Tel Aviv University earning his Executive MBA from The Kellogg School of Management’s Recanati offshoot in Israel.
Before establishing Autotalks, Nir held executive business and R&D positions in Texas Instruments specializing in the development of Cable modem, Ethernet and WiFi applications.
Cofounder Onn Haran graduated with a B.Sc. (cum laude) in Electrical Engineering from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, later gaining a M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Tel-Aviv University
Prior to being involved in the founding of Autotalks, Onn held the post of chief technical officer (CTO) of Passave involved in Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) access solutions, later going on to be involved in the development of Texas Instruments’ Bluetooth solutions.
Onn is the holder of multiple patents in the field of communication.
By Yoel Bermant
Read the orignial article here
