Backed by an advisory board of industry veterans, Ride Vision unveils its collision-prevention technology to increase ride safety for motorcyclists and announces $7M A round, bringing the company to a total of $10M in funding to-date
Herzliya, Israel, November 16, 2020-Ride Vision, the collision-aversion technology (CAT™) provider, announces the international launch of its AI-driven, safety-alert technology to prevent motorcycle collisions on the road. Ride Vision’s safety push is buttressed by $7M in Series A funding, totaling $10M to-date, as well as a partnership with the automotive giant Continental AG.
The funding round was led by OurCrowd, Israel’s most active venture investor, with participation of YL Ventures, an international venture capital firm focused on early-stage startups, Mobilion VC, a smart mobility venture capital fund with a strong aftermarket distribution network, and Metagal, a leading automotive mirrors manufacturer for motorcycles (such as Honda).
There are over 700M motorcycles on the road around the world, which account for 28 percent of all fatal road accidents, and cost for some countries up to 4.1 percent of the domestic GDP, each year. Moreover, as the pandemic has reduced public transit use, people are considering motorcycles and other motorized two-wheeled vehicles as viable alternatives, with two-wheeled vehicle sales rising by 30 percent on average across the EU during COVID-19. Ultimately, more riders means more potential accidents. Ride Vision’s technology, however, can help riders be more aware of their surroundings and cut down the number of accidents.
Ride Vision uses a combination of image-recognition and AI technologies to power its solution, the first of its kind. The company’s patented human-machine warning interface (HMI) and predictive vision algorithms help riders make critical life-saving decisions in real time. The hardware includes two wide-angle cameras mounted on both the front and rear of the vehicle, unique alert indicators placed on the mirrors, and an onboard main computing unit that stores Ride Vision’s patented algorithms. Together, they deliver:
- 360-enhanced safety: Riders are given forward collision, distance-keeping (proximity), blindspot, and dangerous overtake alerts via the indicators located on their mirrors, saving precious seconds that make a difference between an accident and arriving safe to their destination. Ride Vision’s distance-keeping alert makes sure riders maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front of them, regardless the speed of travel, while collision alerts account for road conditions, time to impact, and vehicle speed.
- Ride data recording: Within the Ride Vision app, users can access ride summaries, which contain cumulative reports, including total distance, total alerts, and max speed data. This data can be exported for personal use, such as fuel-consumption calculations or even insurance-rate reduction inquiries. The data is stored on the riders’ mobile device and is not being shared with anyone else.
- Product roadmap: Since Ride Vision is a technology platform, periodical upgrades will be made available with new safety alerts and features like the Emergency Call (eCall) following an accident, Forward-Side Collision, Rear Collision Alerts, and even creating fun videos with embedded riding stats to share with friends.
Ride Vision’s board of advisors includes a number of automotive industry veterans, namely Continental Head of Advanced Engineering ADAS Christian Weber; former BMW-Motorrad Executive VP of Motorcycle Engineering, Prof. Karl Viktor Schaller; and Energica Motor Company S.p.A., CEO Livia Cevolini.
“As motorcycle enthusiasts, we at Ride Vision are excited at the prospect of our international launch and our partnership with Continental,” Uri Lavi, CEO and Co-Founder of Ride Vision, says. “This moment is a major milestone, as we stride toward our dream of empowering bikers to feel truly safe while they enjoy the ride.”
“We are proud to be leading this investment round in Ride Vision,” says Jon Medved, OurCrowd CEO. “This company has both a cutting edge product for this huge underserved market, and the ability to save so many lives. It doesn’t get better than this.”
“I’m very excited to join the Ride Vision advisory board. Saving lives and reducing road accidents using technology has always been my passion and Ride Vision’s technology gets us closer to saving riders’ lives all over the world”, says Christian Weber, Head of ADAS at Continental.
“It is an honor to have been chosen by Ride Vision as a board member advisor,” says Livia Cevolini, CEO Energica Motor Company S.p.A. “Technology combined with rider’s safety has always been one of the cornerstones of our business. Sharing skills and experience can only lead to technological growth aimed at life-saving innovation.”
The company’s products will be available in several European countries starting early 2021; namely Italy, Germany, Austria, Spain, France, Greece, Israel, and the UK. Its products will also be available in the U.S. and Brazil, Canada, Australia, Japan, India, China, and others.
About Ride Vision
Ride Vision was founded in 2018 by motorcycle enthusiasts Uri Lavi and Lior Cohen. The company is revolutionizing the motorcycle-safety industry by harnessing the strength of artificial intelligence and image-recognition technology, ultimately providing riders with a much broader awareness of their surroundings, preventing collisions, and enabling bikers to ride with full confidence that they are safe. For more information, visit ride.vision.
About OurCrowd
OurCrowd is a global venture investment platform that empowers institutions and individuals to invest and engage in emerging companies. With $1.5 billion of committed funding, and investments in more than 220 portfolio companies and 22 venture funds, OurCrowd offers access to its membership of almost 60,000 individual accredited and institutional investors, family offices, and venture capital partners from over 183 countries. OurCrowd portfolio companies have been acquired by some of the most prestigious brands in the world, including Microsoft, Uber, Canon, Oracle, Nike, and Intel.
About YL Ventures
YL Ventures funds and supports brilliant Israeli tech entrepreneurs from seed to lead. Based in Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv, YL Ventures manages over $300 million, and accelerates the evolution of portfolio companies via strategic advice and U.S.-based operational execution, leveraging a powerful network of customers and global industry leaders.
About Mobilion Ventures
Mobilion Ventures is the leading early-stage smart mobility venture fund that focuses on the after-market innovations. Mobilion’s fund is backed by strategic investors from the global automotive Industry, including:Nexus Automotive International, the world’s largest global community of automotive distributors, OE (original equipment) and Tier 1 manufacturers, Mitsubishi Corporation and Delphi Technologies.