Interviews
5 Dec 18

Ernesto Pesochinsky, Mobileye: Making roads safer today and in the future

With approximately 60,000 traffic accident deaths per year occurring in Latin America’s two largest countries alone (Brazil and Mexico), one can imagine the importance of safety in fleet operations.

For Ernesto Pesochinsky who is the Director for the Aftermarket Division of Mobileye, the advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) subsidiary of the Intel Company, this is exactly what he is focused on.

Moreover, by fleet managers embracing the technologies of today, they can make a real difference to their company’s efficiency and bottom line, he says. Learn more about the Mobileye system in our brief Q&A with the executive.

Could you tell us a bit about Mobileye products?

EP: Well, Mobileye is set on helping to make roads safer today and in the future. Today, our technology is used for collision avoidance systems, both embedded in new cars by OEMs, and as an aftermarket add-on in over 30 million vehicles.

This real-world experience serves as the building blocks for the development of autonomous driving technology, which aims to reduce the risk of a collision by warning the driver with visual and audio alerts in real time, providing the critical seconds needed to avoid or mitigate a collision.

The vision sensor scans the driving scene ahead and Mobileye's proprietary algorithms examine it and detect other vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists, lane markings, and speed limit signs that may be in the vehicle’s path, all in real-time.

Our aftermarket systems for fleets are available with a single forward-facing camera or with multiple cameras designed for large and commercial vehicles with extensive blind spots.

The Mobileye technology features several lifesavings alerts for the driver: FCW (Forward Collision Warning), PCW (Pedestrian Collision Warning), LDW (Lane Departure Warning), HMW (Headway Monitoring Warning), SLI (Speed Limit Indicator) and IHC (Intelligent High Beam Control).


Mobileye helps vehicles see other vehicles (Source: Mobileye)

And why are Mobileye solutions specifically important for the Latin America region?

EP: Latin America is a highly important market for Mobileye, specifically for our aftermarket products.

Our founding idea is to help saving lives through the use of collision avoidance technology, and in countries [Latin America] where the OEM solution is not as readily available or too expensive for the average fleet, Mobileye’s retrofit option allows us to bring these live-saving and cost-saving benefits to this region.

Mobileye is active all over the world, and so, even though Latin America is a relatively new market for us, we are able to take what we’ve learned from our global experience and apply it here as well.

Additionally, we have a local network throughout the region so that our local clients can get support from partners who are both familiar with the product as well as with the local needs and environment.

You mentioned autonomous cars earlier. When do you think Latin America will be ready for the transition to self-driving cars?

EP: It’s very hard to say when self-driving cars will hit the roads anywhere in the world, let alone in Latin America specifically. However, I do believe that the socio-economic benefits that can have from autonomous cars are important that this trend cannot be stopped, it is coming.

However, I do believe there is a trust issue that we need to overcome. One of the major steps that can help pave the way to the autonomous vehicle is by increasing the familiarity with collision avoidance technology. This technology – whether it comes fitted in your car or retrofitted afterwards – serves as the building blocks for autonomous vehicles.

Just like Mobileye’s aftermarket system that warns the driver that a collision is imminent and allowing the driver the critical time so he or she then steps on the brake in time to avoid the collision, that same technology is developed so that the autonomous car will simply brake automatically in such a situation.

The more that people drive with this technology and get to know it, the more they will feel comfortable with getting in an autonomous vehicle in the future.

To wrap up, what is your biggest accomplishment with Mobileye in the region?

EP: One of my biggest accomplishments was a project to install our technology in the SAB Miller fleet (now AB InBev) in Colombia. They saw a reduction of 70% in collisions in a single year. Then we continued with projects in other countries such as Peru. I am truly very proud of what we did there, and hope to be able to bring these benefits to other parts of Latin America as well.

Read more on the Mobileye website

Authored by: Daniel Bland