A veteran computer scientist hates sitting in his car at stop lights, so he creates software that makes the experience less annoying. A former engineering professor wants to double the range of today's electric vehicles. And an aeronautics expert believes flying cars shouldn't be science fiction.
It's no secret that technology is changing the car industry. The major automakers, as well as tech giants such as Google and possibly Apple, are laying the groundwork for the first driverless cars.
Meanwhile, a number of engineers and entrepreneurs have started their own companies to tackle other automotive challenges. Here are six startups that want to change the way you drive:
Traffic lights bring order to intersections, but have their inconveniences: They turn red when you're in a hurry; they take forever to change green. And then your mind wanders while you wait—until the guy behind you starts leaning on his horn.
Entrepreneur and computer scientist Matt Ginsberg hates red lights. So he started Connected Signals, based in Eugene, Oregon, to collect real-time data from cities that synchronize their traffic signals. The company's smartphone app tells motorists if an upcoming signal is about to change color. It shows drivers how long they'll have to wait if a light is red—and chimes a warning just before it turns green.
The app helps prevent distraction, unnecessary acceleration and delays, Ginsberg says. BMW has added it to its driver display. Ginsberg also sees an opportunity in selling data for automotive systems that shut off a car's engine to save gas during longer red lights. One hurdle is getting the raw data from individual cities: Ginsberg has agreements with about 100 towns and hopes to cover half the United States by 2017.
Sam Friedman and Alex Israel missed the start of a movie because they couldn't find a place to park. That's when the two young men, friends since kindergarten, decided to launch a company.
Los Angeles-based ParkMe is one of several startups with smartphone apps that help drivers find, reserve and pay online for parking spots. But it's gone further than most in solving the data hurdle: ParkMe boasts parking information from 1,800 cities around the world, much of it collected via live feeds from ticket dispensers at commercial and municipal lots.
ParkMe also gets street parking data from meters that accept credit cards and from cities that use pavement sensors for parking enforcement. While it uses the data in its apps for drivers, ParkMe also sells it to planning agencies and car companies, including Audi, for their navigation systems.
