Two self-driving Israeli public transportation services will operate in 2023 based on the autonomous driving (AD) platform developed by Imagry
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Imagry, a developer of mapless autonomous driving technology, announced that its AI solution will be deployed shortly in two separate pilot programs in Israel. The first autonomous shuttle to use the Imagry platform will commence service at the largest medical center in Israel this month. In contrast, the second will be deployed several months later in the city of Nahariya on a public bus line. Nateev Express, a leading local public transportation operator, will manage both platforms. These two pilot programs represent a new phase in the roll-out of the Imagry platform, as they will allow the general public to experience autonomous driving first-hand.
Imagry Uses a Location-Independent Autonomous Driving Model
Imagry software combines cutting-edge technology that captures and recognizes a real-time video feed with a deep neural network to make complex driving decisions instantly, based on current driving conditions. As such, the solution is mapless, i.e., not limited to pre-learned geographic areas. This is a tremendous benefit for transportation authorities and urban planners who want to employ the latest autonomous driving technology with minimal engineering requirements, reducing project costs and time-to-market. For the past four years Imagry has been operating vehicles equipped with its autonomous driving software on public roads in the United States, Germany, and Israel.
“Best of Class” Elements Ensure Top Performance and Optimized Total Cost of Ownership for Operators
In both projects Imagry relies on first-rate elements, including new and modern electric buses from Otokar (the leading bus manufacturer of Turkey), the high-performance and energy-efficient NVIDIA DRIVE compute platform, automotive-grade cameras, and Imagry’s own mapless autonomous driving software.
Otokar is an industry leader, exporting its vehicles to over 50 countries worldwide. With the new e-Centro mid-size electric buses, not only does Otokar provide excellent range and unparalleled efficiency, the spacious and comfortable vehicles exhibit the highest passenger capacity for its class, having fixed, folding seats, and wheelchair space.
The NVIDIA DRIVE platform, featuring the DRIVE Orin system-on-a-chip, processes data from the vehicle’s sensors to perceive the surrounding environment, then plans and executes a safe path forward. It delivers 254 trillion operations per second — enough computing horsepower required to run numerous simultaneous deep neural networks and algorithms for safe and robust autonomous driving.
Additional Transportation Operators Welcome
“Launching the first autonomous buses in service zones and on public roads in Israel is a tremendous milestone for Imagry,” states Eran Ofir, CEO of Imagry. “It follows several years of test-driving experience, data collection, and mastery of supervised learning on three continents. It signals that we are ready, willing, and able to welcome other transportation operators that want to integrate self-driving buses into their fleet, efficiently and cost-effectively.”
