Toyota, Volvo Lead $31M Investment Round In Israeli Vehicle Inspection Startup UVeye

Israeli startup UVeye, which builds automatic vehicle inspection systems using computer vision and machine learning, announced on Monday that it has raised $31M in a funding round led by Toyota Tsusho, the trading arm of the Toyota Group, Volvo Cars and W. R. Berkley Corporation, an American insurance company.

Founded in 2014, UVeye says its drive-through systems can detect external and mechanical flaws and identify anomalies, modifications or foreign objects, both along the undercarriage and around the exterior of the vehicle – all automatically. The company says its technology is actively deployed today across processes, from the vehicle manufacturing line to logistics, and maintenance.

“We’re able to find everything from a really small scratch, as small as 2 millimeters, to then understanding the gaps, or in case of collision to understand exactly what parts were damaged,” UVeye founder and CEO Amir Hever told Forbes in an interview. 

Hever said in a company statement that the investment was “an important signal that we believe paves the way for UVeye to become the standard of automotive inspection and safety. We are delighted to have world-class companies in their respective sectors endorse our game-changing auto scanning solution.”

Volvo Cars and Toyota Tsusho intend to use UVEYE’s inspection systems at various sites internationally, including Volvo Cars’ factories dealerships and in the after-market, UVeye said. The Israeli company will also support distribution to used car centers for Toyota throughout the company’s footprint within the Japanese auto market, it said.

UVeye has existing partnerships with Skoda and Daimler.

“Premium quality standards are at the core of the Volvo brand and we are intrigued by the possibilities that UVeye’s technology offers,” said Zaki Fasihuddin, CEO of the Volvo Cars Tech Fund. “This type of advanced scanning technology could allow us to take the next step in quality.”

UVeye’s suite of products includes its original undercarriage application (Helios), its revolutionary 360 solution (Atlas), and its targeted tire application (Artemis).