The Problem
In southern Indiana on a sunny day, a 25-year-old utility services man was killed when he ran off the road for no apparent reason. It was later determined that he most likely was texting. This young man worked for one of our founders who decided to do something about it. Distracted driving due to Smartphone usage is a huge problem with potentially disastrous consequences and accounts for 1 in 4 accidents on US roads killing over 3,500 people and injuring 350,000 in the US alone annually. Additionally, the cost of Smartphone related distracted driving accidents for just US commercial trucking fleet operators is over $2.5B per year. Of course, this also continues to be a huge problem for teenage drivers and the general driving population as a whole.
Our PhoneSafeTM Solution
Our PhoneSafeTM Solution is the only system that is designed to PREVENT distracted driving by BLANKING your Smartphone screen while your vehicle is in motion, not just reporting it like other solutions. The PhoneSafeTM uses a short-range, low-power wireless technology to transmit vehicle drive status from the vehicles diagnostic port to our application. It is provided in two forms; one for vehicles with telematics and the other for non-telematics vehicles. Telematics is an electronic device that uses GPS and data in commercial and consumer vehicles to track the vehicle, the cargo, and its driver. It is used to provide route optimization, package arrival times, fleet management, and driver behavior monitoring. The first PhoneSafeTM form is software which integrates with a Commercial Trucking Fleet’s existing telematics platform and allows Fleet Managers to enforce their phone policies, reduce costly accidents, and protect their drivers with minimal expense. The second form of PhoneSafeTM is provided for non-telematics markets, such as teenage driving and user-based insurance, and is a combination of hardware and software. The hardware is a very small 2”x2” inexpensive communications device that is easily plugged into the vehicle along with the same software used in the telematics application. PhoneSafe trains you to be Hands-Free.
Company Status :
• Completed first pass product development and field testing of our Android and iOS PhoneSafeTM versions.
• Established initial product & data clouds.
• Integrated our app into Azuga’s Telematics systems. Azuga has over 600,000 telematics units in the field.
• Raising $500,000 to make product modifications based on our customer feedback so that we can launch PhoneSafeTM in the Telematics and Teen Driver markets. $180,000 is already committed.
• LU has signed an MOU with CCI, a utility services provider, to invest, use, and distribute the PhoneSafe App in over 400 service trucks and to market and sell the App to their utility customers.
Value Proposition
In the commercial trucking industry, the average accident cost $20,000 with each non-fatal injury crash costing $75,000. As the size of the commercial vehicle increases those numbers double and then double again. In the case of wrongful death cases, a Bassett Group study covering 390 cases found that verdicts in favor of the plaintiff involving commercial vehicles averaged $7.5M. Even more interesting is that the average commercial trucking company saw a 20% accident rate5 in 2018. So, if you had a fleet of only 20 commercial vehicles, it is likely that you could have 4 accidents in a year at $20,000 per accident best case or $80,000 total cost. If by adding the PhoneSafeTM Solution at $25/year/vehicle to your safety and risk mitigation strategy, you eliminate just one accident, the application pays for itself in less than 9 days not even including insurance premium savings. So not only will the PhoneSafeTM App save lives and reduce accidents, it will also greatly reduce actual accident costs, reduce insurance premiums, and increase driver productivity. For the teenage driving market, it provides peace of mind to parents at a very low cost.
Market Opportunity
Live Undistracted has three significant market opportunities; commercial trucking, teenage driving, and the User-Based insurance markets. We estimate the initial global Total Available Market (TAM) of over $1B for the PhoneSafeTM Solution in the Commercial Trucking Fleet market alone. Of the 335M commercial vehicles in the world, over 150M are in the US. Of these, over 30M have telematics systems with the telematics market growing at 15-20% per year. Additional opportunities lie in the 20M unit teenage driving market as well as the rapidly growing 200M unit user-based insurance market where All State, Progressive, State Farm, and Nationwide have all started programs. This market opportunity estimate is based on recurring subscription revenues in the US commercial fleet telematics market only.
Intellectual Property
Live Undistracted has filed patent application # 62/733,051, Method and Apparatus for Preventing Distracted Driving, with the USPTO. A recent USPTO recommendation was to divide this filing into three separate patents. Once funding is received, we intend to file several additional patent applications in the US, Europe, and Asia. We anticipate creating additional intellectual property during the commercialization process.
Competitive Advantage
The current competitive landscape includes TruceSoftware, SafeRide and Katasi Groove. Our product addresses each of their weaknesses in the field. Our low cost, low power, reliable, simple and flexible solution sets us apart from our competition. Prospective customers, resellers and telematics providers have told us current solutions are generally too expensive or difficult to integrate and are not reliable or robust. Our unique approach benefits parents and fleet operators in multiple ways. Free Apps have no non-compliance notification or integration ability.
Go-To-Market Strategy
Our go-to-market strategy is to leverage the existing GPS Telematics and Fleet Management sales channels to distribute PhoneSafeTM exclusively through authorized Telematics and Fleet Management Resellers targeting the commercial trucking and user-based insurance markets. The US commercial vehicle telematics market is highly fragmented with the top 100 private enterprise fleet operators accounting for less than 300,000 of the total 20M telematics vehicles. The top 500 fleet operators account for a little over 1M of total fleet vehicles but the top 5 telematics providers have over 50% of the telematics market share. Numerous industries operate commercial fleets including utilities, big box retailers, delivery services, commercial carriers, and local service companies, as well as local, state, and federal government agencies. Our marketing strategy will create pull from end users through the telematics companies and their resellers. Live Undistracted has begun working with several of the top and second tier telematics companies and resellers. We will launch PhoneSafeTM in the teenage driver market with a direct on- line digital marketing program.
Other Opportunities
Our screen control technology can blank students screens in schools while in the class room reducing cyberbullying, increasing students attention in class and eliminating Smartphone teacher conflicts.
Management Team
Jim Mundell, Chief Executive Officer, has over 35 years of executive level business experience in the wireless utility metering, medical devices, sensor, semiconductor, SaaS, and EMS markets. He most recently held the position of Vice President, Services at Sensus and participated in the turnaround and sale of the company for $1.7B in 3 years. He has held the CEO/COO/VP positions at multiple start-ups including Clinical Sensors, Nextreme, VMI, Trivirix, and CBA. He has also held VP level positions with GE, Harris, SCI Systems, and CTS. Jim holds an MSIA and BSEET from Purdue University and serves as an adjunct professor in Duke University’s MEM Program.
Steve Owens, CTO & Co-Founder, is currently the CTO at Finish Line Product Development Services. Steve is the holder of 32 patents covering products in the wireless communications, IoT, and medical products markets. He has held leadership positions at Halliburton, Baker Hughes, and Welltronics as well as several start-up companies that he founded. He holds a BSEE from DeVry University.
Mike Maguire, VP Business Development & Co-Founder, is currently the VP of Business Development at Contract Callers, Inc. Mike has held management leadership positions at Exelon and CCI and has over 25 years of experience in business development, sales, marketing, and services. He holds an MBA from St Joseph’s University and a BS in Human Services from the University of Scranton.
Financial Projections & Use of Funds
Live Undistracted is currently seeking $500,000 to complete the final product updates, establish delivery infrastructure, add to our patent portfolio, secure our sales channel, and initiate our go-to-market strategy. Proof points will include successful field trials of the product, securing two to three telematics channel partners, and receiving multiple customer purchase orders. The company has been funded to date through convertible notes.
Financial Projections Available Upon Request
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