One the eve of its graduation from the Waterloo Accelerator Centre, Sober Steering has learned that it has been named one of the top 10 automotive startups at this year’s Los Angeles Auto Show.

The Waterloo-based company is building momentum as it prepares for the launch of its product, a discreet sensor system that prevents a vehicle from starting if it detects alcohol on the driver. The company’s co-founders, the father-and-daughter team of Catherine and John Carroll, will launch Sober Steering in a few fleets of Kitchener-Waterloo area school buses this fall.

“Our first target market is school buses,” said Catherine Carroll, the company’s CEO, in an interview over the weekend. “It’s all about the children. They’re the most precious cargo of any fleet on the road.”

She will present the company as one of 10 pitchers at the Accelerator Centre’s Showcase on Wednesday. Sober Steering, which has been in the Centre since 2010, will be the only company graduating at the event. She’ll also be traveling to Los Angeles in mid-November for the auto show, which is highlighting connected vehicles.

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With John Carroll serving as CTO, Sober Steering has developed the world's only touch-based alcohol interlock. The product fits discreetly on to the steering wheel, and the driver must touch it before starting the vehicle. The presence of alcohol can be detected through ethanol released through the palm of the hand after drinking. If Sober Steering detects the presence of alcohol above a preset limit, the vehicle will not start and dispatch will be notified immediately.

The system tests the driver when the vehicle is started and requires the driver to take the test intermittently through his or her route.

The pain that Sober Steering addresses is obvious. As well as costing billions of dollars, drunk driving kills 12,000 people annually in North America and is the No. 1 killer of people under 25.

Carroll said the company is beginning with school buses, but Sober Steering also has applications for fleets of other vehicles, including those carrying hazardous materials. The product can be retrofitted into the vehicles, so the first clients will be the owners of the automobile fleets.

Eventually, Carroll can see a day when Sober Steering would be an essential safety feature in any vehicle, just like air bags of seatbelts.

Sober Steering is a division of the Carrolls’ company Sensor Diagnostics, which has also produced a second product called TDM Fleet Management, an easy-to-use fleet management system designed specifically for the school bus industry. The company aims to expand its non-invasive biosensor products to include wearable devices, drug detection and, eventually, medical diagnostic devices.

As Sober Steering graduates from the Accelerator Centre, Carroll hopes to maintain her affiliation with the organization she says played a big role in shaping the company.

“I’ve absolutely loved working with the Accelerator Centre,” she said. “It’s not just the quality of the mentorship but the level of engagement.”