Tel Aviv Firm Nexar Is Expanding Its Safe Driving Tech In US Cities

July 29, 2018 | Tel Aviv-based startup Nexar, an Israeli company dedicated to driver safety through intelligent dash cams, announced that it was expanding its collision-prevention initiative in US cities starting in Chicago, followed by San Francisco and Las Vegas.

Co-founded by CEO Eran Shir, a former manager of Yahoo’s Creation Innovation Center in Israel, and CTO Bruno Fernandez-Ruiz, Nexar uses smartphones to create an AI-backed vehicle-to-vehicle network that works to predict and prevent road accidents. Its free app, available on both the App Store and Google Play, provides drivers with advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) to fuel its AI-powered safe driving network. Nexar’s app, launched in 2016, is used in 740 cities across 160 countries, according to the company.

This summer, Nexar announced that it was giving away hundreds of the AI-backed high-end dashcams for free, starting with Chicago so that drivers “will get real-time alerts of hazards and become part of an connected vehicle-to-vehicle network.” Launched on June 26, 2018, the promotion includes two major parts: the first 500 drivers who ordered the $79 dash cam received full rebate, and the next 500 get $40 rebate. As of July 29, 2018, there are 330 cameras left for $40 rebate, with only 7 days to go according to their website.

Founded in 2015, Nexar already operates in New York City where it says it has recorded a 25 percent drop in collisions among users.

“We are focusing on creating Nexar networks in major metro areas starting with Chicago. As the 3rd largest city in the US, Chicago has the longest commute time of all major cities in the US, with an average of 64.8 minutes on the road daily. That is a lot of time to be exposed to the dangers of unsafe driving,” Nexar CEO and co-founder Eran Shir tells NoCamels.

According to the Illinois Department of Transportation, as of July 6, there have been 447 fatal crashes across the state.

“Our ultimate goal, of course, would be to get that number to zero,” Shir says. “But this will take some time. We hope to replicate the success in New York and improve that in Chicago.” Shir adds that Nexar has been “watching the network rapidly grow…with the drivers helping expand our Chicago network.”

The company plans to expand to Las Vegas this month, followed closely by Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, D.C., Boston, and Philadelphia, according to Shir.

Nexar raised $30 million in January in a Series B funding round. They now boast over 150 million miles logged in by users.