Mayor of London Boris Johnson has welcomed the roll-out of Mobileye’s cutting edge life-saving technology to help improve road safety in England’s capital.

“It’s fantastic to see that cutting edge technology, such as Cycle Safety Shield developed by Mobileye in Israel, is being utilized to help make London’s roads safer,” said Johnson, during a trade mission to Israel.

Amey, one of the UK’s largest public and regulated services providers, will be equipping 200 refuse collection lorries with a system called Cycle Safety Shield, which helps drivers to be more aware of vulnerable road users. The system is supplied by UK company Safety Shield Systems – the UK provider of Mobileye Shield.

Cycle Safety Shield, which has been developed by the Israeli firm Mobileye, uses cameras and sensors to help drivers avoid collisions by detecting and warning of the presence of cyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists. Mobileye technology incorporates strategically placed multi-vision ‘smart’ sensors, which act as a driver’s third eye and monitor blind spots around the vehicle. The system provides drivers with real-time visual and audible alerts as the risk of a collision increases.

“Amey’s commitment to fitting Cycle Safety Shield to its fleet of trucks is to be applauded and I hope that other big companies follow their lead,” said Johnson. “I’ve said that improving the direct vision of drivers is one of our key priorities going forward, but high-tech solutions being developed by Mobileye and others are sure to play a big part in helping us to deliver future improvements‎ to road safety.”

“The Cycle Safety Shield is life-saving technology which is proving to be a game-changer in the field of road safety.  With lorries being responsible for two-thirds of cycling deaths in London, this innovative piece of kit, installed on Ealing vehicles, makes such a positive difference and I am delighted and honored that this has been recognized with awards from Brake and across Europe,” said Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, cabinet member for transport and environment for Ealing.

“Mobileye technology complements the Mayor of London’s mission to make roads in the nation’s capital safer for vulnerable road users. We are very pleased Amey has chosen our technology to help them promote road safety,” said Ziv Aviram Levy, Mobileye’s CEO and Co-Founder.

Mobileye Shield is currently being piloted across the globe in the US, Germany, China, Japan and Australia.