Israeli Mobility Startups’ Solutions For Problems Caused By The COVID-19 Crisis
The coronavirus caught the world off guard. The rapid spread and magnitude of the pandemic quickly evolved into a health and a humanitarian crisis. In addition, the pandemic’s implications with regards to social distancing as well as harsh restrictions on travel fast approached a global economic crisis.
One of the sectors which has been most severely affected by the pandemic is the mobility sector, mainly due to lock-downs and strict limitations on travel of all sorts. Not only was the mobility industry badly disrupted but it has also encountered new challenges that require resolution. On the one hand, people are told to “Stay at Home”, and on the other hand, urgent supplies as well as day to day goods need to keep flowing. On top of that, car manufacturing plants and showrooms closure creates unprecedented crises across the automotive value chain.
The following blog post covers some of the mobility industry challenges that have spiked as a result of COVID-19, and how Israeli startups are making an effort to move the needle in the fight against the virus’ impact and its global health, economics, and mobility effects.
Health
Coronavirus is highly contagious, forcing medical teams to carefully treat patients while looking for ways to monitor them remotely and minimize any physical interaction.
Personal health and mainly vital signs monitoring are not new to the automotive industry. OEMs have been aiming for several years now to incorporate medical solutions into vehicle’s cabins in order to monitor passengers’ health and even their mental state.Thus, it is not surprising to see solutions that are applicable to both the automotive and healthcare industries.
Listed below are Israeli startups with solutions that are able to assist with the COVID-19 health care-related challenges:
AdaSky: Viper-R — Remote Thermal Fever Detection For Crowded Places.
Binah.AI: COVID-19 Patients Triage With Remote Video-Based Vital Signs Monitoring.
Caaresys: Contactless Vital Signs Monitoring System.
Continues Biometrics: Detects Key Vital Signs And Biomarkers Associated With COVID-19.
NanoScent: Develops 30 Second Test For COVID-19.
Neteera: Remote Contactless Vitals Detection For COVID-19 Prescreening And Patient Monitoring. ()
UVEye: Tracking Passengers Fever While Performing Contactless Vehicle Inspection.
Vayyar: Touchless Monitoring Of Vital Signs That Can Indicate Early-Stage COVID-19 Symptoms.
Fleets
The current crisis has shut down the majority of private vehicle fleets.Car rental companies are experiencing a huge drop in rentals due to the complete stop in air travel and tourism. Corporate fleets are not fully utilized, as most employees are working from home.
Taking into account a sharp decline in business and sales as well as the need to utilize countless idle vehicles worldwide, several Israeli companies attempted to tackle some of the issues that fleets are experiencing during this crisis.
Apollo Power: Solar Solution That Eliminates Idle Vehicles’ Batteries Self-Discharge.
AutoFleet: Enable Fleets To Leverage Unutilized Vehicles To Fulfill Deliveries On-Demand.
Fleetonomyֵ: Launch, Scale And Optimize Delivery, Field Services And Fleet Operations.
Moodify: Keep The Smell Of The Car Crisp And Fresh When The Car Is Sold Or Reused Months Ahead.
Ravin: Touchless 360-Degree Vehicle Inspection, Using A Mobile App And Advanced Artificial Intelligence.
Online Car Sales
Putting aside the expected drop of 10%-30% in global car sales this year, it is becoming evident that the closure of dealerships, and social distancing regulations will drive some consumers to buy their cars online.
In light of this new reality, we found 3 startups that can help OEMs, dealerships, and private consumers to continue buying and selling cars online.
AutoLeadStar: Allows Dealers To Deploy COVID-19 Related Services And Messaging Across All Channels With Just One Click.
GettACar:Direct-To-Your-Door, Online Platform That Enables Users To Trade, Finance, And Buy Used Cars.
Spinframe: Turning Physical Showrooms And Used Vehicle Stock Into A Real-Time Online Experience.
Autonomous operations
Of course, autonomous vehicles seem to be a natural solution for numerous challenges this crisis presents. However, current AV adoption pace and maturity delays such technologies from providing significant impact. Nevertheless some of these technologies may be helpful in other autonomous applications such as autonomous delivery systems that could hit the market earlier. Moreover, we focused on some level of autonomous capabilities such as geofenced autonomous vehicles or teleoperation that can be adopted in the near future. Those can potentially remedy problems caused by the virus such as manpower shortages in factories or harbors, or remotely operating robots that deliver supplies.
Arbe: Radar System That Enables Safe And Affordable Sensing For Autonomous Delivery Robots.
Ottopia: Enables The Deployment Of Robots In Surging Sectors — Last Mile Delivery And Healthcare.
Phantom Auto: Remotely Operate And Monitor Vehicles From Anywhere.
SoftRide: Retrofit Plug-And-Play Autonomy Kits, Mitigating Labor Shortages And Exposure For Covid-19 Contamination.
Logistics & Deliveries
In any crisis, some sectors are negatively affected, while others experience a surge in demand. Logistics & deliveries are one of the most obvious sectors within the mobility industry that are affected positively by the crisis, enjoying a significant rise in supply, food, and grocery deliveries.
Suppliers, shippers, and logistics companies are looking for new technologies to help them improve and increase efficiency.
The Israeli logistics & delivery scene is a diverse one, from technologies supporting traditional logistics solutions to delivery drones. Here is a collection of top Israeli startups in this field.
Bringg: Out-Of-The-Box Last-Mile Delivery Solution That Helps Businesses Immediately Launch Or Scale Their Delivery Operations.
Bringoz: Enables Shippers To Efficiently Track, Monitor, And Manage Their Deliveries.
Flytrex: Essentials Delivered By Drone.
GetPackage: Sharing Economy Marketplace That Connects Couriers To Senders And Receivers Via A Mobile App.
Quay Express: Mesh Network For Deliveries.
Smart Cities
Authorities and municipalities alike are experiencing the crisis to its fullest. The need to enforce social distancing while maintaining critical infrastructure and services is challenging at best, and sometimes almost impossible.
A number of Israeli startups have some solutions to meet these needs, mostly around social distancing and traffic management.
AD-Knight: Enables Municipalities To Ensure and Monitor Social Distancing While Preserving Citizens’ Privacy.
Anagog: Helping Brands To Quickly Understand The ‘New Normal’ Of Their Consumers.
NoTraffic: Analyzes Traffic And Helps Agencies Understand And Adapt To Changes Due To The Covid-19 Crisis.
VizibleZone: Contact Tracing Solution For Workplaces To Achieve Business Continuity.
WayCare: Helping Transportation Agencies To Manage Irregular Congestion Buildup Around Essential Locations.
Other
This crisis is complex, with multiple problems, some of them yet unknown. The Israeli startup ecosystem is very diverse too, enabling a rich set of tools for addressing the rising problems.
Here is a collection of startups that are helping with other problems that do not fall into any of the previous categories.
BWR: Operating Autonomous Shuttles In Critical Infrastructures And Drone Pollination For Agriculture.
CYE: Offers Tools To Protect New Vulnerable Environments As Remote Work Becomes A Common Practice.
Intuition Robotics: Social Companion Device Aimed At Helping Seniors Fight Loneliness And Social Isolation.
IRP: Producing Blowers For Respirators, By Using Ev’s Electric Powertrain Knowledge And Expertise.
Via: Helps Develop Safe, Reliable, And Efficient Transit — Smart Solutions Built For Critical Workers And Essential Services.
Sanitation
Another very acute domain of problems, which was rarely on the mobility industry focus, is the disinfection or sanitation of vehicles. This topic is exciting both because it is relatively new in our industry, and also because it affects us so much, from public transportation to ride-hailing, and of course, short term car-rentals and second-hand cars. All of them need to adapt to the new world where alongside with your service, you have to guarantee a “virus-less” environment. This will be covered in our next blog post.
Looking forward
This effort is a work in progress, If you believe your startup or a concept / team you know of, can contribute to this effort — we’ll be glad to learn more. We are actively looking for more mobility startups that are able to address problems that arise during the current crisis, or startups outside of the industry that wish to harness their capabilities and contribute to these exciting new business opportunities within the mobility domain.
Please feel free to contact me (Raz@drivetlv.com) with thoughts, opinions, or anything we’ve missed.
