The share price of Foresight Autonomous Holdings Ltd. (TASE: FRST), which is in the hot business of preventing traffic accidents and developing software solutions for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving apps, leaped 13% today on a high turnover, bringing its gain since the beginning of the year to over 140% and boosting its market cap to NIS 370 million.
The reason for today's jump was a report on the signing of a binding agreement on carrying out a pilot for the company's system with Chinese automaker JAC. The pilot will test Foresight's systems. The companies agreed that the Chinese company would provide Foresight with a vehicle fleet in which the Israeli company's systems are to be installed. The Chinese company will provide most of the financing for the pilot. A demonstration of Foresight's system for detecting road hazards and warning about accidents will be held in order to increase understanding of the requirements for ADAS systems in China, taking the local driving culture, infrastructure, and weather into account.
In the two-week pilot, which will be held in the first half of May, JAC will operate the vehicles using drivers allocated for the pilot. The systems will photograph and record the journeys, and Foresight will process and analyze the information obtained during the journeys. The information gathered during the pilot will be used to adapt the system to the needs of the Chinese market. Depending on the results of the pilot, the two companies will consider entering into a commercial agreement. Foresight adds that JAC manufactures hundreds of thousands of vehicles a year, and is one of the few car manufacturers in China that makes different types of vehicles: private, commercial, buses, and electrical cars.
The Chinese company has over 35,000 workers. Among other things, it makes parts for the auto industry and sells them around the world.
Foresight's current report follows a report early in the week that the company, together with information security company Safe-T Group Ltd. (TASE:SAFE), Real Vision, and the Shrem Zilberman Group, will found a joint company for cyber security in vehicles and trains.
Foresight has taken advantage of the surge in its share price, which was affected, among other things, by Intel's $15 billion acquisition of Mobileye (NYSE: MBLY), to raise NIS 40 million last month in a number of financing rounds.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on April 26, 2017
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017