Today, humans have developed an irrepressible urge to stay connected with the world at all times; on one hand this creates a more informed individual but on the other it makes for a significant reason behind increase in road accidents.
One such incident led Sunil Vallath to ideate Exploride in 2014. Vallath registered his startup in the district of Columbia in the US and joined Startup Village, Kerala, where he joined hands with Vivek Mohan and Rahul Agarwal to make Exploride a reality.
It is a futuristic hands free head up display for cars controlled with gesture and voice controls. Exploride eliminates the need of multiple devices for maps, car infotainment systems and smartphones when on the wheel. Furthermore, it places everything right in the line of sight of driver with a transparent display, with zero overhead costs.
According to dna, About 1.2 Mn Indians were killed in car accidents over the past decade, which makes an average of one death every minute while 5.5 Mn were seriously injured. In many emerging markets road deaths have dipped even as vehicle sales rose but Indian fatalities have shot up by half in the last 10 years.
The product has gone through almost 2 years of iterations and development. The end product is a standalone device that can be installed under 30 seconds. Company had also raised a seed fund of $70k from Project Guerilla and other private investors.
Along with Exploride’s main features to keep users safe & connected while driving, it also packs the features of a fighter jet display & usability of a car’s infotainment system.
Exploride, when installed along with the onboard diagnostics, can act as your cars’:
- Dashboard that gives you insights about speed, fuel, tire pressure e.t.c
- Infotainment system that streams Spotify, Apple music and more.
- GPS that has both offline and online maps from Google Maps.
- Hands free calling & texting system.
- Smart assistant, like driving and parking assistant.
- Cloudenabled information system.
Company has launched its new headup display and is taking pre-orders on Indiegogo.
- Super Early Bird: $239
- Early Bird: $269
- Core Supporter: $299
- Retail: $499
In 20 hours of launch, they have raised $11.564. Commenting on future plans, Sunil said, “ Presently, we plan to create our platform robust and user-friendly. A product that can be understood without a user manual.”
Exploride competes with brands like General Motors and startup companies like Navdy. Navdy, has a similar device and was released in August 2014. Few months back, it had raised US$20Mn for starting the commercial production. Also, the company raised $6.5Mn seed fund and another $6Mn in pre-orders for the sale of 17,000 devices.
Talking of the differentiating factor, Sunil said, “Exploride is a standalone product with 4G LT connectivity, inbuilt speaker/microphone, superior dashcam and many more superior functionalities. We are concentrating at building a product that solves the sole issues of the problem and not on competition.”
In short, Exploride’s launch of its all in one headup display is an attempt to make driving smarter & safer. It’s safety and security features along with maps, music and calling facilities make Exploride a goto product for both car enthusiasts and families alike.
Check out their Indiegogo Campaign
