Since GM opened a technical centre in the Israeli coastal city of Herzliya in 2008, dozens of automakers and Tier 1 suppliers including BMW, Hyundai, Bosch, and Lear have opened similar centres in Israel to tap into the talent there.
Ford, who bought Israeli computer vision company SAIPS in 2016, formally opened their own R&D centre in Tel Aviv two weeks ago. Since 2013, some USD $6bn has been invested in high-tech mobility startups, according to data from EcoMotion. Since then, the number of mobility startups has exploded from 87 to 644, organisers say. They make up about 10% of the country’s total startups.
The GM site today has roughly 350 employees, mostly computer scientists and electrical engineers, in 5,000 m2 of office space. It expanded to a second location a few blocks away in late 2017. The site is next to offices for 1,700 employees of Apple, near Amazon and under a kilometre from Microsoft.
Ford now hope to replicate that success; they’d been scouting Israel for talent throughout the last decade, but last week’s research centre announcement represents a firmer commitment. CEO Bill Ford said it’s important for the automaker to “cast our net as wide as we can and to reach innovators wherever they are”. He called Israel “such a hotbed of innovation right now. We need to stay very close to the ecosystem that’s developed here.”
The new centre’s research will focus on interior monitoring, sensors, over-the-air updates, cybersecurity, and autonomous technology. The team there will work closely with other Ford sites around the globe.
