DriveAEye wins Rep. John B. Larson’s 2024 Congressional App Challenge in Connecticut’s First District

When asked what inspired the creation of DriveAEye, the student said, “The inspiration for DriveAEye came from two deeply personal realizations that struck me in quick succession, highlighting the urgent need for accessible road safety technology. I was looking through the news in May when one headline caught my attention: ‘4 killed in wrong-way crash in Connecticut.’ The tragedy of lives being thrown away in a second is heartbreaking, so I felt that I had to explore further the reality of how safe our roads really are here in our state. The findings were very alarming.  My search led me to a website at the University of Connecticut where I found the Collision Analysis Summary Tables. This table disclosed some disturbing information. In the past three years, 825,674 people have been involved in car accidents in the state of Connecticut. The great size of the problem was eye-opening: this was not a statistic, but hundreds of thousands of families whose lives would be changed in an instant.

As I read further, I came to realize how much some of the advanced features in self-driving cars could prevent a crash. Due to socioeconomic disparity, many can’t get the benefits from such potentially lifesaving technology. That sat wrong with me when I thought that whether or not someone was going to be safe on the road may be determined by their economic status. I can relate to this issue, since I am almost at driving age myself. I’m pretty sure that most of my peers are excited about the freedom that driving brings, and I am too. However, at the same time, I am truly aware of how big responsibility and risk go along with it. I want to make sure that when my friends and I finally get out onto Connecticut roads, we have every possible tool at our disposal to keep us safe. It struck me how incredible it is that while we manage to use AI technology for writing essays and even generating art, we are not leveraging it to its full potential in a way that can save lives on the road, for all.

Safety shouldn’t have a price tag. My goal is to create a tool that makes every car, regardless of its age or model, a little bit smarter and a lot safer, ensuring that life-saving technology is within reach for everyone.”