The prime minister today met with Elon Musk at his residence in Jerusalem during the tech entrepreneur visit to Israel. Netanyahu's spokesperson said that they had discussed future technologies during the two-hour meeting, including the subject of autonomous vehicles.
Netanyahu later told the Negev conference about the meeting, saying, "I meet with Elon Musk this morning. He told me that Israel was a technological power, and that he appreciates what we're doing here."
According to Netanyahu, Musk said that the Negev could supply all of Israel's energy needs. "The Negev is Israel's energy future. You can deploy solar systems here that will give you more energy than you need - clean energy," Musk told Netanyahu.
Netanyahu continued, "I'm telling you what he said to me. I want it. I want a bustling, prosperous, and developing Negev."
Industrial sources said that Musk's visit to Israel is linked to cooperation with Israeli startup Cortica. Musk was seen visiting pubs in Jerusalem during his visit (and posted two clips on Instagram with photos of the pubs).
In February, during Netanyahu's visit to Munich, he met with auto industry leaders, including BMW chairperson Harald Krueger. Netanyahu said that Krueger had told him that his company wanted to make Israel one of the places in the world where it conduct autonomous vehicle trials. In answer to a question from "Globes" about where in Israel trials are being planned, Netanyahu said that as of now, Netanya is being mentioned as s possibility.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on March 20, 2018
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