App help on the road

Ford Motors had invited software developers to create mobile apps for use in Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai. The winning programs bring people and vehicles together to the aid of those in peril

Last year, Ford Motors had initiated the Innovate Mobility Challenge in which software developers were invited to create solutions to locally-relevant issues for drivers. In London, it was the problem of parking, it was the botheration of gridlocked roads in Shanghai and Argentina. In Los Angeles, competitors had been asked to repurpose the city's numerous parking lots for use during no-rush hours. Ford brought the challenge to India too, and between July and October last year, proposed app makers take up the issues of mobility during the usual monsoon havoc in Mumbai, quick response to traffic accidents in New Delhi within the critical “golden hour” and mobile solutions for community health workers in Chennai. The results are out now.
 

Talking about the challenge in Delhi, K Venkatesh Prasad, senior technical leader, vehicle design and infotronics, Ford Research and Innovation, had said, “We hope to receive apps that will help shorten the time required to reach a hospital and apps that will help provide patient-related information as well as information about the nearest hospitals. They may also be able to capture and communicate images of the injury to doctors.”

The winning app is Flare, developed by Utsav Shah, chosen from among the 100 programs submitted by competitors. It creates an opportunity for volunteers in the community to help others in times of need, while simultaneously working with Delhi authorities to improve medical outcomes.

Flare has two sections: “Report” and “Volunteer”. In the Report section, people can easily attach a picture, identify the location of the accident and send a message stating what exactly happened to them/someone around them. The Volunteer section allows people to see and interact with reports in their locality so they could help out with anyone in need. Volunteers can call the person who reported, see their location on a map, and see their picture if they uploaded one. The app works on Android, but if it detects the user has no Internet connection, then it facilitates messages through SMS.

In Mumbai, 89 software developers registered for the challenge. The winning solution came from Khyati Majumdar. His app, Mumbai Monsoon Helper,  combines such features as real-time weather and forecasts, information on the severity of flooding throughout Mumbai, and crowd-sourced information about conditions that can help commuters make smart decisions. The app also provides a weather map for the next few hours.

The mobile health challenge in Chennai saw 157 programmers pitting their wits against each other. The winning app was developed by Tristram Norman. The app also won the Special Jury Prize, in addition to the $30,000 Grand Prize that all winners received. Norman’s application, called SimPrints Solutions for Community Health Workers, connects community health workers to medical records. SimPrints has developed a pocket-sized fingerprint scanner that instantly links an individual’s fingerprint to his or her health records. The Bluetooth-enabled scanner allows health workers in the field to make better decisions by providing immediate and reliable access to critical medical information. A simple finger swipe is all it takes to find out, for instance, which vaccines someone has received and which remain to be administered. The software plugs into virtually any mHealth tool, allowing the SimPrints system to integrate easily with existing health systems.

Prasad says that developers were encouraged to use Ford’s OpenXC platform. It is an open-source software and gives developers access to Ford vehicle data. Using the software, the Mumbai Monsoon Helper app will be further enhanced in future to make the car itself gather Information like current speed, wiper blade status and so on to determine water logging and mobility problems. In Chennai too, the SimPrint system can use OpenXC to deal with the medical supply chain challenges.