Honda Motor Exec Partners with Israeli Entrepreneur to Develop Autonomous Forklift

Japanese car executive Hiroshi Otsuka has partnered with Israeli entrepreneur Ran Poliakine to develop an autonomous industrial vehicle. The two signed a partnership agreement on Tuesday at a meeting held in Jerusalem as part of a Japanese delegation to Israel. The delegation was led by the Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Hiroshige Sekō.

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Otsuka is the head of the Musashi Seimitsu corporation which is partly owned by Honda Motor Co. and manufactures powertrain parts, with more than 30 global manufacturing plants. Poliakine has founded several companies, including wireless charging developer Powermat Technologies Ltd. Powermat’s wireless charging stations are deployed in Starbucks stores globally.

As part of the partnership, Otsuka and Poliakine will work to develop a self-driving forklift and quality assurance robots for industry 4.0 production lines, Poliakine wrote in a Tuesday post on LinkedIn. The financial details of the partnership were not disclosed. The two did not say when or where the partnership’s activity will take place.