In late June, UVeye, an Israeli startup specializing in advanced vehicle diagnostic systems, announced that it received an investment from General Motors’ venture capital arm, GM Ventures, to help fund the development and commercialization of its vehicle inspection technology. In addition, the startup has entered into a strategic business agreement with General Motors to explore the expansion of UVeye’s high-speed automated systems to GM dealerships in various markets.

Founded in 2016, based in Tel Aviv, with offices in Israel, the US, Germany and Japan, UVeye has raised about $95 million since its inception and counts automakers among its investors, including Volvo, which has in fact been using its technology since last March, Hyundai and Toyota now joined by General Motors.

Automated vehicle inspection

UVeye’s product suite is designed to reduce the time required to inspect vehicles to minutes. According to the startup, the digitization process can improve the efficiency of these inspections on assembly lines, at car dealerships and auctions, and at safety checkpoints.

The technology includes three AI-driven systems to be installed at a service center location for an undisclosed subscription fee:

• Atlas and Atlas Lite: two 360-degree exterior inspection systems for scanning sheet metal and other exterior components for paint chips, dents and other problems. According to UVeye, the Atlas scanners are suitable for high-volume service facilities, fleet operations and assembly lines, while Atlas Lite is specifically designed for dealership use.
• Artemis: Using two ground-level cameras, the system detects sidewall damage and tread depth, as well as air pressure, age and brand of tires.
• Helios: This is an underbody scanner that can detect a wide variety of potential safety issues, including fluid leaks and chassis damage, as well as brake and exhaust system problems.

The Strategic Collaboration Agreement

As part of the strategic collaboration agreement, the two companies have agreed to work on a variety of vehicle inspection technology projects involving used car auctions, fleet operations and auto dealer sales. In the future, UVeye also plans to integrate electric vehicle and autonomous driving platforms into its inspection databases.

Several GM dealerships in the U.S. already use the technology for vehicle inspections; the new agreement will make it available to all 4,000 GM dealerships. The partners will further explore applications to extend the technology to exterior scans and photography to generate online interest and potential sales for used vehicles.

On August 17, UVeye announced that it had partnered with Tekion: the combination of UVeye’s scanning devices with Tekion’s innovative native cloud software will enable service customers and dealership employees to receive instant, comprehensive vehicle condition reports. These will clarify and enhance the customer service experience by helping users choose the best possible service solutions.

The General Motors dealership network will be the first to use the Tekion integration.

Translated from La start-up UVeye signe un accord commercial stratégique avec General Motors