The Trailblazers: Introducing Foresight

Center-stage startups may soon become gamechangers; meanwhile their journey could already contain a valuable lesson for us all

Innovation Spotlight

The journey of each start up is unique, yet the challenges they encounter are not. The ways they choose to overcome obstacles on their path, the creativity it takes to maneuver and prevail along the way and their ultimate recipes for success can all fill chapters in a potential guidebook for new starts up. Each company has something to contribute to this vast shared pool of collective knowledge.

Foresight Autonomous Holdings (Nasdaq and TASE: FRSX) is an innovator in automotive vision systems; it develops smart multi-spectral vision software solutions and cellular-based applications. Startup’s founder and CEO, Haim Siboni, explains:

“Our vision solutions vary. They include modules of automatic calibration and a dense three-dimensional (3D) point cloud that can be applied to the automotive, defense, and autonomous vehicle market and the heavy industrial equipment market, among others. Eye-Net Mobile’s cellular-based solution suite incorporates cutting-edge AI technology and advanced analytics and provides real-time pre-collision alerts that enhance road safety and situational awareness for all road users in the urban mobility environment,

Established in 2015, its team grew from 4 people to over 80 employees today. Foresight is a publicly traded company, both on Nasdaq and TASE(FRSX). The company has raised approximately $110 million in several capital rounds.

Where did the idea come from?

“Like many other technologies originating in Israel, Foresight’s underlying stereo vision technology evolved from military technologies: in this case, Magna BSP’s Homeland Security surveillance solutions based on stereo vision systems that have been used for more than two decades. Its technology was adapted by Foresight for civil applications and particularly for automotive applications such as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and different levels of autonomous driving.”

What were the first steps you took to realize your idea? 


“Being the founder of Magna B.S.P, which innovated the field of Homeland Security surveillance solutions, I wanted to test the feasibility of using this stereo vision technology (usually used to protect static borders and sensitive areas) for dynamic environments such as vehicles. The proof of concept project turned out to be successful and was used to raise $10 million through a reverse merger transaction.”

What problems are you actually solving?

“The company’s lead product Mono2Stereo,™ is a software-based solution designed to create 3D perception stereo vision from existing cameras. This cost-effective unique solution enhances the performance and improves the safety of existing mono-camera-based advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). It can be readily applied to vehicles that are already equipped with level 2 and level 3 autonomous features to provide better distance accuracy, detection of any obstacle, and more robust active safety features, all without requiring new or additional hardware. We also offer a separated stereo camera solution, which allows camera modules to be independently placed on a vehicle, without being limited by stringent mechanical constraints or requiring manual, and extending and improving obstacle detection range to up to several hundred meters.”

What would you say is your wow factor?


“Our proprietary software-based solution enables continuous calibration between pairs of vision sensors, thereby ensuring the accuracy of the 3D images. It enhances traditional stereo systems and enables automakers to take stereo vision to the next level. Our Mono2Stereo solution enables our customers to improve the safety of their existing ADAS systems by creating 3D stereoscopic perception using existing cameras. This software-based, low-cost solution requires no additional hardware or design modifications, therefore reducing design and manufacturing costs.”

What was the turning point for your company?

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, we realized that the dream of the autonomous vehicle may be slipping away, as many projects across the world were shutting down or getting postponed. That led us to develop a solution that can be readily applied to the lower levels of autonomy of current vehicles on the road. This led to the first proof of concept project with a leading European automaker using our stereoscopic technology to enhance existing ADAS systems.”

What was the one, most significant thing that allowed you to get noticed?

“Over the years we’ve had different collaborations with several blue-chip names across industries and have engaged with highly attractive customers, such as FLIR Systems, Elbit Systems, Hitachi and others. We believe that the most significant thing that will allow us to get noticed is getting a design win with a leading vehicle manufacturer or a long- term agreement with a tier one automotive supplier.”

What mistakes would you say you’ve made along the way?

“In our early days, we perhaps made the mistake of joining a saturated market of ADAS systems, one that had many competitors, some very dominant.”

What was your best decision along the way?

“The best decision was to concentrate our efforts on our core intellectual property and develop a software solution that is hardware agnostic. It can work with anyone on the market that uses mono cameras and enhances their existing ADAS systems.”

What did you not know about the market or about operating a startup that you can now teach others?

“There were multiple lessons along the way. We now underestimated, for example, the length of the sales cycle in the automotive industry. It takes a lot of patience and time to succeed. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

Marketing strategy: how did you pave the path to your clients?

“We started off selling prototype systems to receive initial feedback from customers. Following a year and a half of evaluation by different customers, we proceeded to engage with our customers through technical roadshows where the customers could get hands-on experience and see a live performance of our systems. As a next step, we conducted proof of concept and co-development projects which, we believe, will ultimately result in design wins.”

How big was the marketing element in your overall strategy and budget?

“About 12% of our budget is allocated to sales and marketing activities, including advertising and exhibitions.”

Where will you be in a year from now?

“Currently, we have one substantial commercial agreement and several ongoing projects with customers from various market sectors. We recently signed a commercial agreement with Sunway AI, a Chinese tier one company that intends to add Foresight’s QuadSight capabilities to its current ADAS solution. In one year from now we hope to have two more significant commercial agreements.”

What will the industry look like 5/10 years from now?

“Toward the end of this decade, we will start to see autonomous vehicles but in low numbers, mainly robotaxis. The majority of the automotive industry will be improvements of existing ADAS systems. The automotive industry has moved from “revolution” to “evolution” and Foresight has adopted its offerings accordingly.”