Ituran Announes DRIVE: The New Smart Mobility Innovation Center & Incubator

AZOUR, Israel, February 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ: ITRN, TASE: ITRN), today announced the launch of the DRIVE innovation center in Tel Aviv to promote the development of cutting edge Smart Mobility technology. The innovation center is the first of its kind and will include a range of activities aimed at providing assistance to start-ups and entrepreneurs. These activities will include guidance in value proposition validation through the creation of meaningful long-term partnerships with leading mobility firms.

The initiative is sponsored by leading partners in the field including Mayer Cars and Trucks, Hertz (NYSE: HTZ), Honda (NYSE: HMC), Volvo Cars (Nasdaq Stockholm: VOLV-B.ST) as well as Ituran.

The center incorporates a startup accelerator, advanced prototyping labs and a co-working space. The center is designed to support start-ups of all stages with guidance and expert advice. DRIVE's partners will actively engage with the startups by providing expertise, optional investments, and prototyping development lab opportunities that may evolve into further business relations. This joint work will enable the startups to receive accelerated validation of their technology and business model.

DRIVE will be led by founding partners Omer Shachar, Dr. Tal Cohen and Boaz Mamo. Mr. Shachar is an investment executive from the Mayer Group. Dr. Tal Cohen serves as adjunct associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, and is an entrepreneur who has founded and invested in companies, now worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Mr. Mamo is a specialist in smart mobility entrepreneurship and founder of EcoMotion and Capsule, a smart mobility accelerator.

Eyal Sheratzki, CEO of Ituran, commented: "We see tremendous importance in the investment and development of new technologies that will drive us to the forefront of technological advancements, in an ever-changing market. Together with our partners, we have established this incubator in order that we can contribute our vast experience in the car market to talented and motivated entrepreneurs and engineers. Our goal is to assist local entrepreneurs in our field by providing them with our experience and tools, and bring future DRIVE nurtured solutions into the use of our customers around the world. For Ituran and its partners, we will gain early access some of these most advanced ideas and technology that are born within these companies."

According to DRIVE's CEO Boaz Mamo: "DRIVE was created from a significant need in the world of smart mobility entrepreneurs to hone innovations to real market needs through collaboration with market leaders, creation of initial stage prototypes, and the ability to back the collaboration with focused investments. DRIVE will unite all its resources in order to locate and support the most promising start-ups in the field of smart mobility in Israel and around the world."

"The transportation industry is facing a dramatic change," he continued. "DRIVE will have the ability to provide start-ups with a clear visual of this changing market and to provide DRIVE's partners with meaningful connections and innovation opportunities."

About Ituran 

Ituran provides location-based services, consisting predominantly of stolen vehicle recovery and tracking services, as well as wireless communications products used in connection with its location-based services and various other applications. Ituran offers mobile asset location, Stolen Vehicle Recovery, management & control services for vehicles, cargo and personal security. Ituran's subscriber base has been growing significantly since the Company's inception to over 1m subscribers distributed globally. Established in 1995, Ituran has over 1,300 employees worldwide, provides its location based services and has a market leading position in Israel, Brazil, Argentina and the United States.

For more information, please visit Ituran's website, at: http://www.ituran.com

Company Contact
Udi Mizrahi ([email protected] )
VP Finance, Ituran
(Israel) +972-3-557-1348
   
International Investor Relations
Ehud Helft ([email protected])
GK Investor Relations
(US) +1-646-201-9246

SOURCE Ituran Location and Control Ltd