Keeping Roads Safe, the company that is designing a software to keep drivers off their phones while behind the wheel, won first place during a pitching competition at Intertraffic Amsterdam, a worldwide annual exhibition for the traffic and mobile safety industry in March.
This win has led to the Halifax company forming significant partnerships in European markets and piloting its product with key industry partners.
Angus and Josh Poulain, the father and son duo behind Keeping Roads Safe, took part in the first-ever Intertraffic Startups Pavilion (ITSUP) competition, where they beat out four other startups in the automotive safety industry.
“Part of the show is about technology and how technology can improve safety, so we took part in the challenge” said Angus Poulain. “By winning that we won a partnership with the Dutch government and they agreed to do a pilot project in the Netherlands to figure out how they can roll out the product for its citizens.”
The product, called DriveCare, is a mobile app that disables users' phones while they’re driving. The app also tracks routes, times and whether or not a driver is trying to access their phone while on the move.
Sensys Gatso, a worldwide provider of traffic safety and management solutions sponsored the exhibition. It will also be piloting DriveCare.
“And if they like what they see over the next three months they’ll roll it out to the rest of their customers,” said Poulain. “We’re on a good road. This gives us confidence that our product works and we’re getting to where we want to be.”
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As a result of all its success in Europe, Keeping Roads Safe plans to expand its offices to the Netherlands and do a hiring spree that will triple its staff in the coming months. Poulain said he wants to do more business development in Europe, while developing the software in Canada.
“We’re going to have a European focus and we’ve been courted by the Dutch government to open an office as a European centre base, so we’re pretty excited about that,” said Poulain.
He said the market for traffic safety innovation is more progressive in Europe, pointing to connected cars, vehicles that interact with city infrastructure like street lights, road lanes and speed limits, as examples.
“The thinking there is more advanced and they’re very progressive with road safety and their citizens,” said Poulain. “We’ve been in the Netherlands three times now and the only accident we saw was two cyclists colliding.”
The DriveCare solution is now patent-protected in 150 countries and has evolved from a hardware solution to a software. The product works via an app on your phone and connects to the bluetooth in your car. The company still has its hardware component for older vehicles, without bluetooth.
Poulain has plans to go back to the Netherlands in two weeks to “put ink to paper” regarding the pilot projects. In the meantime, Keeping Roads Safe has some big deals on the table as it nears a close to its first round of funding here in Halifax.
