Name: CarmaCam

Legal Name: CarmaCam Inc.

Location: Los Angeles, California

Founded: 2018

Founder(s): Rob Rappaport and Doug Rosenberg

Website: http://www.carma-cam.com/ 

Social Media: 24 likes on Facebook

Industry: Global Surveillance Market

Size: $28000M in 2019 (Source: MarketWatch)

Future: $55000M in 2024 (Source: MarketWatch)

Introduction

CarmaCam offers a web-camera app that seeks to be the “eyes on the road” for instances when the police are not around. This crowdsourced system uses a car dashboard camera to collect videos of bad driving. Then, these videos are reviewed by AI and independent individuals. The ones that are verified as authentic make it to the integrated CarmaCam Traffic Incident Database. This repository is accessible to the likes of police or insurance companies; who have the power to hold bad drivers accountable.

The Product

CarmaCam Safety works by capturing traffic violation videos, via a dashboard camera app. This free web app also automatically records license plate ID, if visible. Then, the video is sent for review along with a report filed by the user. Next, the verified videos are made available to insurance companies and law enforcement.

In case of incidents of really reckless driving (DUI or hit-and-run) that need immediate attention of first responders, users can simply click on the alert icon on the app. This will lead to the capture of a video of the bad driver, which is sent to law enforcement officers closest to the location, in real-time. This way the patrol can rush into action and save some lives. CarmaCam LE product is the product that law enforcers can use to get these updates.

CarmaCam Mobility is yet another offering from the startup that turns video reports of illegal parking and lane violations into citations or warning tickets. This helps enforce parking regulations and even prevent cars from blocking bus lanes etc.

To increase app engagement, CarmaCam also offers added incentive to users in the form of CarmaPoints. These points are linked to the user’s individual license plate number. Every time a user uploads a video of poor driving and its approved by three randomly selected independent reviewers, they earn 100 CarmaPoints. Reviewing another user’s video also gets users 10 CarmaPoints, and so on.

Origin and Founding Team

The eureka moment came to Doug Rosenberg, a serial entrepreneur and engineer from the University of Southern California, when he was braving the LA traffic to work. In an interview with Expert Dojo, he talks about how he almost got involved in an accident, owing to the miscalculation of a bad driver. So, he set out to build CarmaCam; driven by a need to hold bad drivers accountable. Since the startup was on a shoestring budget, he employed interns from USC to develop the software. 

By November 2018, they completed three road tests with LA metro to help reduce the number of cars in bus-only lanes. 

Additionally, CarmaCam is also working towards reducing illegal scooter usage in L.A., Santa Monica, Glendale, and Santa Ana.

Performance and Trends

According to Crunchbase, CarmaCam secured seed funding of $50K from Expert Dojo in January 2019.

The post CarmaCam – Improving traffic safety with real-time traffic videos appeared first on Techweek.

Name: Xaqt

Legal Name: Xaqt Inc

Location: Chicago, IL

Founded: 2015

Founder(s): Chris Crosby

Website: https://www.xaqt.com/ 

Social Media Following: 190 Followers on LinkedIn, 111 Followers on Twitter  

INDUSTRY – Smart City Technologies Market North America

Size: $196.5B in 2018 (Source: BCC Research)

Projections: $419B by 2023, CAGR of 16.3% (Source: BCC Research)

Introduction

Xaqt is an analytics and software development firm that develops technology-driven solutions aimed at helping organizations and governments leverage data to solve complex problems and transform how they operate. Its urban analytics and intelligence solutions are used by city authorities and policymakers in the US to better understand how cities function and drive innovation. 

The Product 

Xaqt builds specialized platforms offering a diverse range of technological capabilities such as conversation AI and voice automation, urban mobility, smart city technology, shared mobility solutions. Xaqt’s voice automation and conversational AI platform is used by call centers to personalize customer experiences and manage capacity more efficiently, while helping reduce the repetitive tasks for their agents and freeing up resources for higher-value activities. 

The company also offers a turnkey transit analytics platform which it claims is capable of generating and transmitting real-time intelligence across entire urban transit systems. These insights and recommendations help operators make better decisions and optimize their performance. Further, the platform’s machine learning algorithms analyze and predict real-time and future traffic flows to enable authorities to better manage vehicle movement in urban areas. 

Xaqt also provides shared mobility solutions to new-age mobility and gig companies. It leverages GPS and telematics data along with the platform’s geospatial insights to help them better manage their commercial drivers, reduce operating costs, and optimize revenue opportunities. 

VeloCity, one of Xaqt’s latest offerings, is a connected vehicle and telematics intelligence suite and an open engine for location-based data analysis and applied intelligence. The company claims that it is a first-of-its-kind end-to-end platform that delivers unprecedented insights to drivers, fleets, and customers of on-demand logistics, delivery services, fleet operators, ride-share, and shared mobility providers.

Chris Crosby, Chief Executive Officer at Xaqt, was quoted in a case study by AWS on the use of the company’s solution by the City of Kansas City and said, “By providing integration, governance, analytics, and a user front end, we make city data useful.” He adds, “Whether it’s an individual looking for a parking space or a manager looking at violation rates across the city, we can serve up the right insights and data based on role.” In the same case study, Bob Benett, the Chief Innovation Officer for the City of Kansas City, said, “The Xaqt solution built on AWS enables us to perform preventive roadwork. We expect to save up to 50% compared to emergency repair.” The Kansas City authorities used the platform’s advanced analytics capabilities to identify vacant buildings that require additional maintenance and attention. Xaqt combined existing datasets owned by the city such as permits and traffic, to pinpoint vacant structures with 85 percent accuracy. 

Origin and Founding Team 

Xaqt was founded by Chris Crosby, who is also the company’s Chief Executive Officer

He has more than 20 years of leadership experience in building startups and developing innovative solutions for call centers through the use of data-enabled technologies. Chris holds a Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government and regularly advises both governments and startups on matters relating to technology and leadership. 

Before founding Xaqt, Chris had built and sold two technology companies, Latigent LLC and Inflection Point Global, and the former was acquired by Cisco Systems in 2007.

The post Xaqt – Helping transform policy and governance with data appeared first on Techweek.