ISRAEL21C

Mobileye’s self-driving tech

A total of 12 cameras offer a 360-degree configuration for long-range surround view and parking in the Intel Mobileye autonomous car. (photo from Intel Corp.)

Jerusalem-based Intel subsidiary Mobileye reportedly has struck a deal to supply its future EyeQ5 chips for integration in eight million partially automated cars to be manufactured by an unidentified European automaker in 2021.

Partial automation, a step toward the eventual goal of fully self-driving vehicles, requires the driver to remain alert to road conditions. Mobileye is a world leader in advanced driver-assistance technology, dominating about 70% of the current market.

Intel acquired Mobileye in March 2017 for $15.3 billion, the largest-ever acquisition of an Israeli high-tech company.

“By the end of 2019, we expect over 100,000 Level 3 cars with Mobileye installed,” said Amnon Shashua, chief executive officer and chief technology officer, referring to self-driving cars in which the driver has about 10 seconds to take over if the system fails.

Shashua announced last month that Intel and Mobileye are starting to test their responsibility-sensitive safety (RSS) model in a 100-car autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet – each equipped with 12 cameras for 360-degree visibility – on the notoriously difficult-to-navigate streets of Jerusalem.

“In the coming months, the fleet will expand to the U.S. and other regions,” he said in a May 17 statement. “While our AV fleet is not the first on the road, it represents a novel approach that challenges conventional wisdom in multiple areas. Leveraging over 20 years of experience in computer vision and artificial intelligence, our vehicles are proving the Mobileye-Intel solution is the most efficient and effective.”

Shashua said a radar/lidar layer will be added to the cars in the second phase of development.

Regarding the next-gen EyeQ5-based compute system due out in early 2019, he added, “the current system on roads today includes approximately one-tenth of the computing power we will have available [then].”

Israel21c is a nonprofit educational foundation with a mission to focus media and public attention on the 21st-century Israel that exists beyond the conflict. For more, or to donate, visit israel21c.org.

Climate change heats up Israel

Israelis and tourists enjoy the beach in Tel Aviv on a hot summer day. (photo by Miriam Alster/FLASH90 via Israel21c)

A new study says that, by 2100, climate changes will extend the summer season in the eastern Mediterranean – an area that covers Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and southern Turkey – by two full months. Winter, the rainy season, will shorten from four to two months.

The study, published in the International Journal of Climatology, was overseen by Prof. Pinhas Alpert and conducted by Assaf Hochman, Tzvi Harpaz and Prof. Hadas Saaroni, all of Tel Aviv University’s School of Geosciences.

“Pending no significant change in current human behaviour in the region, the summer is expected to extend by 25% by the middle of the century (2046-2065) and by 49% until its end (2081-2100),” Hochman said. “The combination of a shorter rainy season and a longer dry season may cause a major water problem in Israel and neighbouring countries.”

Other serious potential consequences include increased risk of brushfires, worsening pollution and altered timing and intensity of seasonal illnesses and health hazards.

“One of the main causes of these changes is the growing concentration of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere as a result of human activity,” said Hochman.

The research team is currently exploring the possibility of establishing a multidisciplinary regional centre for climate adaptation.

Implant first in world

Cardiologist Gil Bolotin checks patient Robert MacLachlan, the first in the world to receive the CORolla implant, at Rambam hospital. (photo by Pioter Fliter/RHCC)

A 72-year-old Canadian man has become the world’s first recipient of an Israeli-developed implant to treat diastolic heart failure, a fairly common condition for which there is no effective long-term treatment.

The minimally invasive surgery was performed on July 26 at Rambam Health Care Campus, a medical centre in Haifa, by a multidisciplinary team led by cardiologists Gil Bolotin, director of cardiac surgery, and Arthur Kerner, senior physician in the interventional cardiology unit.

The implant, called CORolla, was developed by Israeli startup CorAssist Cardiovascular of Haifa. The elastic device is implanted inside the left ventricle of the heart and can improve cardiac diastolic function by applying direct expansion force on the ventricle wall to help the heart fill with blood. The CorAssist technology was invented by Dr. Yair Feld, a Rambam cardiologist, with doctors Yotam Reisner and Shay Dubi.

The patient, Robert MacLachlan, explained that he had run out of treatment options in Canada for his diastolic heart failure. His wife had read about the CORolla implant on the internet and contacted Dr. Karen Bitton Worms, head of research in the department of cardiac surgery at Rambam. MacLachlan’s cardiologist encouraged him to apply to have the experimental procedure in Israel.

Bolotin said that, while many potential applicants were interested in the procedure, no one wanted to be first until MacLachlan came along.

“I am proud that Rambam offers treatments to patients not available anywhere else in the world,” said Dr. Rafi Beyar, director and chief executive officer of Rambam.

The hospital did not comment on the condition of the patient, but, in a video released a month after the procedure, MacLachlan said he already feels better and has noticed that his skin colour looks healthy for the first time in a long time.

The Israel Ministry of Health has authorized up to 10 clinical trials at Rambam to test the efficacy of cardiac catheterization for placement of the CORolla implant. The potential market for the device is large. It is estimated that more than 23 million people worldwide suffer from heart failure, a condition in which the heart fails to pump sufficient oxygenated blood to meet the body’s needs. Approximately half of heart failure patients suffer from diastolic heart failure, in which the left ventricle fails to relax and adequately refill with blood, resulting in a high filling pressure, congestion and shortness of breath. This is the condition for which the CORolla device was invented.

To watch the video about the surgery, which includes an interview with MacLachlan, and how the medical procedure works, visit israel21c.org/haifa-hospital-tests-first-implant-for-heart-failure.

Israel21c is a nonprofit educational foundation with a mission to focus media and public attention on the 21st-century Israel that exists beyond the conflict. For more, or to donate, visit israel21c.org.