At a glance, it seems like this essentially turns your phone into a brick while driving....Are users able to use google maps or play music on the phone while the SafeDrive is running? @tudorcobalas
@derekminter Thanks for asking. Our intention is to integrate with both kind of apps. At the moment you can listen to the music or to the maps instructions but cannot interact with them. We hope to improve this experience very soon.
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@derekminter I guess you can do that by opening the music and map apps first and run in background
@tudorcobalas@derekminter glad to hear.
Quick follow-up: I saw the phase "bitcoin for accountability" used in your forbes article. Do you guys plan on integrating btc payouts as a reward or more strictly an internal token or appcoin for use in the marketplace? or both?
@axincornel@derekminter Exactly, having apps in the background is not a problem.
Some of our users turn on their Waze, put the alerts on and keep SafeDrive on top.
@derekminter Thanks for asking, we referred to "Bitcoin" more of a comparison towards "mining" your responsibility (when driving :)
We like to say that SafeDrive is the app that transforms your responsibility into a virtual currency, which you can exchange for discount vouchers.
I really love this idea and I'm curious to see what the uptake is like. The marketplace/reward mechanic always seems to be a bit tricky to get quite right and make it compelling enough. There might be an opportunity to use social-proof to improve usage: e.g. Get parents to link their kid's allowance with points earned. Although I'm not sure how best to monetize that. Maybe every drive that they don't use their phone gives contribution to car cleaning/tax/insurance etc? Excited to see how it progresses nonetheless, it's brill.
@charlottecramer You are right, the marketplace is not an easy job.
We are looking in different ways on how the points can be spent, either with the partners (discounts), or with social rewards and gamification.
We also will soon experiment the possibility to donate the points to an NGO, and once the number of donated points is achieved (e.g.: 50,000 points for the cause), a partner company will jump in and support that NGO (e.g.: a large organization supporting a school to be built).
But all in all, we seem to have created a virtual currency based on your responsibility and we test ways on where and how to spend this currency.
Thank you for your comment!
@tudorcobalas@evilspyboy I have to do some efforts shortly for my less public service minded apps ;) shortly. I would be happy if I could pull those sorts of numbers
@evilspyboy Honestly, we have a marketing budget with one figure (almost 0). The fact that our app involves companies and has a powerful CSR message, it results in some promotion from partner companies among their clients. This is how we grow and we hope to reach the sky.
@robertoscaccia sure thing, thanks for asking. Our app determines the speed from the GPS, in order to start the algorithm that gives points. The algorithm calculates the number of points based on the speed, duration, distance of the trip and total distance. We do this in order to create a balance between users that drive a lot in the city and the ones driving outside the city. This means that as you drive more, the app will give you less points. So, truck drivers, be aware that you won't win all the points :)
We also limit daily the total number of points that a user can earn to 124 points. Why? Because we do not want an inflation of points, which could damage our partners (and their offered products).
We allow calling, since we can't control when someone is called (and calls can be very important). So, users when called won't lose the points. But making a call from the phone (which means exiting our app) is not permitted.
Our app also knows when the smartphone is connected via bluetooth (car kit or headset), allowing users to take and make calls from the car system.
The backlog is full with new features, sent by our users, mainly in regards to navigation possibility and parenting options (e.g.: share that you've arrived safely at your destination, by sending the distance travelled and points earned to your beloved ones, just with one tap).
Brilliant idea! Well done.
I have a few ideas and questions for you.
Idea 1
Hmmmm... if you are able to detect speed , does the product also offer rewards for driving at a safe speed based on speed limits? Both Speeding and Texting are major culprits in collisions. Can the speed limit of a specific area be known via a Maps API?
Idea 2
I was just reading some crazy stats... over 25% of car collisions are related to mobile use.
If you have some usage data from your focus groups: E.G. "using SafeDrive reduced "texting" by 80% by habitual driving texters," you can probably extrapolate an estimate on how many lives this app can save if everyone had it. That would be a powerful message!
"Nearly 330,000 injuries occur each year from accidents caused by texting while driving."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/20...
It sounds like this app has the potential to save thousands of lives.
Idea 3
I've read some recent articles about UBER drivers causing accidents due to reckless driving. What if ride-sharing services used SafeDrive to provide the public with an aggregate "SafeDrive Score"? This would promote safe driving amongst ride-sharing contractors. Think of it as a "Klout Score" for Ride Sharing services.
In addition, ride-sharing businesses" can reward their contractor drivers for ensuring drivers stay within safe speed limits.
Well done!
@alexsien Thanks for your input and questions. First, the app's algorithm doesn't give points if your speed is above 80 miles per hour (in Europe 130 km/h). Implementing the specific speed limit zone was an option, but since we do not save the location of the user, we did not integrate it.
Secondly, if we would extrapolate and relate not on the number of users, but to the total distance travelled, and assume that this would be around 1B responsible miles driven, we would save lives and thousands of potential injuries. Our app also would save millions of $ in terms of car accidents costs (sending ambulances to the accident location, hospitalization, insurance claims etc.)
Thirdly, this is a very good idea, a public score for ride sharing sounds very interesting.
Such services, like ride sharing (and other businesses), could also reward their contractors (or employees) for responsible driving. We have some discussions with a few organizations about such integrations.
Thanks again for your input, liked it a lot.
SafeDrive is an app that rewards drivers for not using their smartphones when driving. A points-based reward system allows users to redeem points with SafeDrive's partners (such as Uber, Kiip.com and local gas stations). Kudos to these guys for trying to solve a dramatic problem: distracted driving is a dangerous epidemic on America's roadways. In the US only, each day, more than 9 people are killed and more than 1,153 people are injured in car crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver.
@robertoscaccia Thanks for the hunt, our app wants to put an end to this global problem. The roads are getting larger, cars are cheaper, and smartphones are more intrusive in our lives. The perfect combination for distracted driving accidents.
We took a different approach, by rewarding our users with points that can be traded (as a virtual currency) on discount vouchers from partners. The result is drivers get safely home, and have commercial benefits, partners have sales and CSR marketing, and society has safer roads.
We’ve started in Europe, where we validated that giving points is significantly improving the drivers behavior. We're launching in US right now, so if any of the Product Hunters know companies interested in such an app, please help us getting in contact with them (email me at tudor@getsafedrive.com).
We love to hear your opinion, become a SafeDriver now and send us your feedback.
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Fantastic idea. I hope you can get some great partners globally for this, including insurance companies. Similar things exist but are typically tied to a specific insurance firm, love the idea of it being independant.
@slaterjohn Thanks for appreciating our product. We like to be independent, on our users part, which love to have variety.
Therefore, we've built the marketplace in a way that can put all together different brands, from different domains.
We'd love to talk to partners, even locally, in order to present the power behind SafeDrive.
Again, thanks!
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