Israeli Mobility Innovation Meets Michigan’s Mobility Future
Written by Casey Iaccino – Senior Director of Business Development, Michigan
Michigan has always been more than a place where vehicles are built. It is where mobility systems are tested, supplied, regulated, integrated, and scaled. That makes the state a natural landing point for Israeli mobility companies that are ready to move from promising technology to real-world deployme
Two companies, Imagry and Whilx, show why this connection matters. Each is solving a practical mobility problem with technology that can strengthen Michigan’s automotive, transportation, logistics, and advanced manufacturing ecosystem.
Imagry: Mapless Autonomy for Real Roads
Imagry has developed an AI-based autonomous driving platform designed to operate without relying on expensive, pre-built high-definition maps. Its system uses cameras, perception software, machine learning, and real-time decision-making to understand the road environment and guide the vehicle.
That mapless approach matters because scalability remains one of the biggest barriers in autonomous driving. Systems that depend on detailed maps can be expensive to deploy and maintain, especially as road conditions, construction patterns, and operating routes change. Imagry’s technology is designed to reduce that friction and support autonomous operation across buses, shuttles, passenger vehicles, and fleet applications.
For Michigan, the fit is clear. The state has OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, transit agencies, universities, proving grounds, public-private mobility pilots, and a workforce that understands how transportation technologies move from pilot to production. Imagry brings a differentiated autonomy platform that can help Michigan remain a leader in connected, automated, and software-defined mobility.
Whilx: Making Tire Pressure an Intelligent System
Whilx is focused on a less visible but highly important mobility challenge: tire performance. Tire pressure affects safety, braking, energy use, fuel consumption, tire wear, emissions, maintenance costs, and vehicle handling.
Instead of treating tire pressure as a periodic maintenance issue, Whilx is developing an autonomous add-on system that can adaptively optimize tire pressure in real time. Installed at the wheel, the system is designed to continuously improve the contact between the tire and the road, helping vehicles operate more safely and efficiently.
That creates value across passenger vehicles, commercial fleets, logistics, delivery, trucking, electric vehicles, and future autonomous platforms. For fleets especially, small gains in fuel efficiency, tire life, safety, and uptime can become major economic advantages.
Michigan is the right place to support this kind of technology because the state understands the whole vehicle system. Whilx needs access to automotive engineering, supplier relationships, validation partners, fleet operators, manufacturing know-how, and customers that care about performance and cost. Michigan can provide that environment.
Why These Companies Matter for Michigan
Imagry and Whilx are not just interesting startups. They represent the kind of global mobility innovation Michigan should be working to attract, support, and grow.
For Israeli companies, Michigan can serve as a soft landing zone into the U.S. mobility market. For Michigan, these companies bring new technology, new investment opportunities, potential jobs, and new ways to help existing Michigan companies become more competitive.
The goal is not simply to recruit companies. The goal is to turn them into economic engines. When companies like Imagry and Whilx grow in Michigan, they can create engineering, manufacturing, sales, testing, and partnership opportunities. They can support pilots, strengthen supply chains, improve fleet performance, and help Michigan companies compete in a mobility market that is becoming more autonomous, connected, efficient, and software-defined.
Michigan’s Advantage Is Scale
The future of mobility will not be won by technology alone. It will be won by places that can connect technology to customers, infrastructure, manufacturing, policy, capital, and talent.
That is Michigan’s strength. Our ecosystem knows how to take transportation innovation seriously. We know that new technology must be tested in real conditions, integrated into existing platforms, supported by suppliers, trusted by customers, and scaled through commercial relationships.
Imagry and Whilx are examples of how Israeli innovation can help drive Michigan’s next mobility chapter. By supporting companies like these, Michigan is not just welcoming new technology. It is investing in the next generation of mobility leadership, job creation, and economic competitiveness.
