Israel's Cortica teams with Toyota, BMW in autonomous AI car tech

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli high-tech firm Cortica has partnered with some leading players in the automotive industry to form an artificial intelligence venture for autonomous driving, the company said on Wednesday.

Given the shift towards self-driving cars, many in the industry are looking to incorporate AI into their systems to better deal with road hazards and increase safety.

Partners in the new Tel Aviv-based spinoff, called Cartica AI, include venture capital units at Toyota and BMW, auto supplier Continental AG, as well as Israeli investment platform OurCrowd.

The companies did not disclose how much they invested in Cartica AI, but they will help with development and distribution.

Cartica AI said that unlike more conventional AI systems, it does not use human-labeled data for deep learning, which is time consuming, expensive and at times unreliable.

Instead, it said its AI engine sifts through millions of unlabeled videos, finding common elements to make decisions on how best to react on the road, without human intervention.

(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch)