December 30, 2008
Cobra to Distribute Mobileye's Vision-Based Driver Assistance Systems throughout Europe
LOS ANGELES and VARESE, Italy – Cobra Automotive Technologies and Mobileye Vision Technologies have come to a distribution agreement whereby the two companies will collaborate in selling the Mobileye Advance Warning System (AWS) throughout Europe to passenger cars, light commercial vehicles (up to 3.5 tons), insurance companies, and original equipment suppliers. The agreement covers purchase expectation volumes in the hundreds of thousands over the next three years, thereby expressing the expected growth and acceptance of driving assistance systems in Europe.
Mobileye's driver assistance systems offer the only driver safety systems on the market to combine forward collision warning, lane departure warning, and headway monitoring in one affordable solution for accident avoidance and driver behavior documentation. Mobileye AWS includes a smart camera located on the front windshield inside the vehicle and utilizes Mobileye's advanced vision technologies to detect and measure the distance to vehicles and to lane markings, providing the driver with timely alerts.
Mobileye is recognized as an international leader in vision-based driver assistance technologies with customer functions launched by leading automakers including BMW, GM, and Volvo. The forward collision warning assists in preventing collisions with vehicles ahead by alerting drivers to both moving and stationary vehicles, while filtering cars in adjacent lanes posing no threat. The lane departure function monitors the vehicle position in the lane and alerts the driver to departures from a lane without using the appropriate turn signal. Maintaining a safe distance from the vehicle ahead is a task drivers tend to underestimate, resulting in accidents caused by insufficient distance keeping. Mobileye's headway monitoring function calculates the distance from the vehicle ahead, providing the driver with both numerical and color headway data.
Recently Mobileye's vision processor for intelligent vehicle systems was awarded the 'Best Automotive Design' prize, as a result of the 'Best Electronic Design' Competition for 2008 launched by the Electronic Design magazine.
"The Mobileye systems fit the Cobra strategy of mitigating risks associated to driving a vehicle and are a welcome addition to the Cobra security product range," said Carmine Carella, Cobra CEO.
"Mobileye applauds Cobra's approach to equipping drivers with safety and security. As drivers continue to risk and lose their lives by driving inattentively, a growing statistic due to the flurry of in-car distractions and increasing traffic, Cobra will provide drivers with a variety of driving solutions to suit any budget," said Ziv Aviram, CEO of Mobileye Vision Technologies.