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COMMENT: Israeli soil proves fertile ground for mobility innovation

The Start-up Nation's transport innovation is making waves on the global stage, but what impact has it had back at home? By Megan Lampinen

The tiny country of Israel has proven highly contentious since its founding. Boycotts and protests were taking place even before the ink was dry on the Israeli Declaration of Independence. More than 70 years on and this political hot potato shows no signs of cooling down. But putting aside the politics behind the Arab-Israeli conflict, the nation-state has emerged as one of the more innovative technological and entrepreneurial leaders in the world.

Despite its small size, Israel has the second largest number of start-ups in the world, following only the US. The field of mobility alone has sparked the emergence of more than 500 start-ups over the past few years. There are numerous theories on why the atmosphere is so conducive to innovation, some of which are explored in the book Start-up Nation, published in 2009. The likes of Mobileye, Waze and Gett all sprang up from Israeli soil and went on to make a name for themselves on the global mobility stage.

The government needs to be involved heavily in any sort of autonomous vehicle, MaaS or smart city project, all of which require regulatory and legal support

While Israel may be good at nurturing new talent, it’s not so great at deploying it. Very few of these new companies are targeting their innovations at the local market. Electrification is a case in point. Local start-up StoreDot is developing ultra-fast charging technology for electric vehicles (EVs), which could bring down the charging time to less than five minutes. The company recently demonstrated its system at Israel’s EcoMotion event, though it has no plans to launch in the country any time soon. Rather, it is focussing on the US, China and Europe.

On paper, Israel appears to be a good match for electric mobility; with its small size, most journeys are well within the range of today’s EVs. There was real hope for the segment with the rise of Better Place, the battery-swap brainchild of Israeli entrepreneur Shai Agassi, but its failure after just a few years effectively killed off further interest. Today the region is woefully behind many others in terms of EV advancement, with a mere 700 EVs on the roads.

However, efforts on this front are now starting to revive, both in terms of new EV technologies and new models coming to market. Volkswagen is tapping the electrification trend in combination with autonomous driving and Mobility as a Service (Maas) with its ‘New Mobility in Israel’ joint venture project. Working with Mobileye and local distributor Champion Motors, VW Group plans to launch a ride-hailing service with self-driving EVs in Tel Aviv from 2022. This ties in well with the government’s 2011 Fuel Choices and Smart Mobility Initiative, in which it lays out ambitions to become a centre of excellence for alternative fuels and smart mobility.

While Israel may be good at nurturing new talent, it’s not so great at deploying it

And like it or not, the government needs to be involved heavily in any sort of autonomous vehicle, MaaS or smart city project, all of which require regulatory and legal support. Like most of the world’s cities, Israel’s urban centres face the ubiquitous challenges of road congestion, vehicle emissions and lack of parking. Many believe that MaaS can help tackle those and improve traffic flow, reduce emissions, cut back on demand for parking spaces and make mobility more accessible. In this case, politics can’t be put aside, but if harnessed effectively it can be directed in a positive way to help shape future mobility developments.

These and other aspects of Israel’s mobility journey are explored further in the Automotive World report, The future of mobility in Israel.

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