Supporters wave Israeli flags before an election campaign event with Benny Gantz, leader of Israel's Blue and White Party, in Herzliya, Israel, on Sunday, March 31, 2019. Photographer: Corinna Kern/Bloomberg
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Ever heard of Yandex? Me, neither.
When the Russian company was described as an Internet search firm like Google or Baidu, I decided to check out its self-driving protoype. Yandex’s self-driving Toyota Prius at the 7th Annual EcoMotion transportation conference in Tel Aviv performed impressively, very much like other models I had experienced. (Note to self: Always keep alert for the many things you don’t know.)
The Yandex self-driving car illustrated an important point for those who assume innovation is happening mostly in Silicon Valley or at Toyota labs or in China. In fact, a great deal of advanced transportation technology lies beyond what automakers and their suppliers can see each year at CES – the gargantuan Consumer Electronics Show – each January in Las Vegas.
One of the newest and hottest spots is Israel, where inventiveness and originality are on display at EcoMotion, an exhibition that has grown steadily since its inauguration seven years ago. This year, some 4,000 exhibitors, automakers and suppliers attended. Yandex cleverly figured out that investors, potential partners and future customers could spot them just as easily, perhaps more easily, in Tel Aviv than in Las Vegas.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Yandex CEO Arkady Voloz, second left, examine the current prototype of an unmanned vehicle during his visits Russia's largest internet search engine Yandex headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
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