Frost & Sullivan Honours Mobileye N.V. With the 2006 Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award in the Automotive Industry

LONDON, December 14 -- Frost & Sullivan confers the 2006 Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award in the automotive industry on Mobileye N.V in recognition of its superior entrepreneurial ability centred on vision-based products in automotive applications.

"The entrepreneurial ability demonstrated by Mobileye N.V is expected to result in the widespread installation of low-cost, vision-based driver assistance systems in passenger cars and trucks," notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Karthikeyan Vijayakumar. "In return, the company is likely to benefit from revenue growth owing to the market potential for vision-based products."

The company has globally launched its vision-based product for lane departure and collision warning in the truck and passenger vehicle aftermarket. This application is also scheduled to be launched in six production platforms in 2007 (start of production), with a major U.S. and two leading European car manufacturers.

"Commencing from 2007, passenger cars in Europe will be factory-installed with the vision-based lane departure warning (LDW) system," states Mr. Vijayakumar. "By 2010, all major vehicle manufacturers are expected to introduce the vision-based safety systems in the market."

The systems utilise a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) vision sensor. This sensor captures road images, and processes them on a custom-designed application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chip and proprietary algorithms. The chip, known as 'EyeQ', has the computational power equivalent to that of a Pentium IV processor running at 4 GHz and the advanced algorithms can differentiate between various road objects such as cars, trucks, pedestrians and lane markings, among others.

"Currently, the aftermarket system supplied by other market participants offers only the LDW function," remarks Mr. Vijayakumar. "However, by providing more functions at the same price as its competitors, Mobileye is likely to capture a large share of the truck and passenger vehicle aftermarket. These functions include forward collision warning, headway warning and LDW, as well as the video recording option."

Market participants are advocating the cost and life-saving potential of the LDW system. Fleet owners are also beginning to realise the value in utilising such systems. Apart from the LDW system, the applications of the company include vision-based adaptive cruise control (ACC), pedestrian and road object identification and blind spot identification. This unique achievement positions Mobileye well ahead of its competitors.

Financially, Mobileye possesses resources that can ensure a high probability of success. Moreover, with a conscious need to leverage the expertise of existing giant companies, the company has entered into a number of partnerships with electronics and automotive suppliers. For instance, the stability offered by its strategic tie-up with STMicroelectronics will enable it to promote its "EyeQ" chip among original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The company also works with a number of automotive Tier 1 suppliers.

This Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award is given each year by Frost & Sullivan to the company that has demonstrated superior entrepreneurial ability in its industry. This Award signifies the company's identification of a unique and revolutionary product solution with significant market potential. Additionally, the Award certifies that the company's marketing strategy is sound and poised for success.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognise companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.