Autotalks – Onn Haran Co-founder and CTO and Hagai Zyss CEO (Courtesy company PR)
Qualcomm, an American multinational corporation, has dropped its bid to acquire Israel’s Autotalks, an Israeli startup that develops V2X solutions for use in smart cars. The deal, which was first announced in May 2023, was scuttled due to regulatory concerns expressed by the European Union. The EU said it needed to make sure that the acquisition of Autotalks complied with its antitrust laws.
Qualcomm is an American firm, but it operates in Europe and so the company needs European approval for any such deal. At issue here was the V2X technology developed by Autotalks that collects data on traffic jams, stop lights and speed zones.
“Qualcomm has terminated the transaction to acquire Autotalks due to lack of regulatory approvals in a timely manner,” the company said in a statement. “Automotive is a very important vertical for Qualcomm and we remain fully committed to our product roadmap, our customers and our partners.”
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“We thank Qualcomm for their intention to acquire Autotalks,” said the Israeli startup in a statement of its own. “We found a fellow believer in the potential of V2X to save thousands of lives every year. We are disappointed that the transaction couldn’t be completed.”
The company went on to say that it is “looking forward” as its entire team continues to “develop our products and support our customers. In parallel, we are exploring alternative paths for the continued success of our company, technology and team.”
Founded in 2008, Autotalks is a V2X chipset market developer which provides customers with what it describes as state-of-the-art V2X solutions. V2X (Vehicle-to-X) is the technology that allows for the exchange of data between vehicles as well as between a vehicle and a server via wireless networks. This is how a smart car exchanges information and allows a service provider of some kind to know where it is located, their speed and what the traffic is like, among other things.
This may sound like Waze, but Waze requires some sort of internet access, usually through a user’s cell phone. V2X tech offers its own networks, and services far beyond what Waze offers as well as all manner of encryptions and cybersecurity.
It is this technology that was at the heart of both Qualcomm’s desire to acquire Autotalks as well as the concerns over competition issues held by the EU.
