I found out today that I am a top twenty finalist for the Code Master Challenge. I was starting to think I didn’t make it, I expected to make it at least that far! I really can’t wait for the next round, I want to win this competition - I need this boost to get my business rolling.
I’ve had writers block while I was waiting to hear about the top twenty — so I’m going to make this post have all of the things I wanted to write about this month regarding DRADIS.
DRADIS Chipin
As you might have noticed I ran a ChipIn.com fundraiser to get $3000 to buy a cutting edge TabletPC plus race track capable in-car tabletPC mount. Unfortunately I was only able to raise $20 out of that $3000, this will go towards the new mount. I want to give a big thanks to Daniel Crenna for chipping in! When I finally get this new equipment together, I hope to really blow people away with what a Vista enabled real-time drivers aid can do.
DRADIS Business Applications
I’ve been looking at different ways of turning DRADIS into a commercial product. There are a few different ideas that came up.
Security services - A key feature that some of my contacts found very interesting was the video recording capabilities of DRADIS. It could be easily extended to publish video content to a secure web server (if the car had a data connection while filming). This would allow for video footage to always be recovered during.. stressful encounters (think riot and strike security). I have to admit I think its cool but that’s not the direction I want to take this app. Most of the use case scenarios involve the application being used in a stationary situation - DRADIS is meant to provide a driver of a moving vehicle data to aid them in whatever task they are engaged in.
Rally/Race computer - If I had unlimited funds this is the direction I really want to take DRADIS. Have you heard of www.racedv.com? This company provides post-processing of in-car video footage. I would like DRADIS to provide as much of this as possible but in real time. Also for rally racing, the navigator needs to relay a massive amount of information to a driver as well as perform mathematical calculations under high-speed conditions. Using a TabletPC with gestures and advanced visualization would really help this person do the job quicker and more efficiently.
Street Race matcher - I had this idea this morning. It’s a cool idea, but its extremely illegal. Have you played Import Tuner Challenge for XBox 360? How about Test Drive Unlimited? In both of those games, using a GPS map you can find other racers on city streets. You can then race with other drivers for cash. The idea would be similar, using DRADIS this could allow for racers on the street find and setup wagers for races. DRADIS has a location based instant messenger and could offer the bet escrow service as well. It’s a shame this service can never be made due to the fact that I would be sued into oblivion:) I think its a great starter idea because down the road when all cars are data enabled /w apps like DRADIS, there will be some way they can do business with one another. Imaging being able to offer the guy ahead of you $5 bucks to get out of your way:) This is something I’m going to keep thinking about, its hard to imagine ways people can interact with each other in moving vehicles in a SAFE and practical manner.
DRADIS related News
Nissan’s CarWings RSS dictation device. I saw this on engaget the other day. Nissan will have this device that allows for RSS feeds to be dictated to a user just like a radio station. This was one of the first features in DRADIS except not only is it voice dictated, it is voice driven too. This would allow for hands-free navigation of your RSS content.
AutoBlog had this post about Fords new in-truck TabletPC offering. This is only meant to be used in stationary situations but I think it shows that car companies are seeing the value of having a in-car PC. I like the idea of this system, there are lots of people doing business out of their trucks in construction sites. I wonder if there would be any need for DRADIS in these trucks? Are you a contractor or in the construction business? Any ideas on what kind of software would be needed for this?
And that’s my big DRADIS update - lets see if I win this competition, $50,000 would really help me bring this application to market!
