Trekken

I’m also the co-founder of Trekken (OTOMATA), a Brazillian tech-based Startup specialized in city mobility and transportation.

Trekken is a smartphone application developed to identify aggressive drivers by evaluating the driver’s behavior into simple analytics (score between 0 to 10). It fuses the data collected from the GPS and the accelerometer to trace a complete profile highlighting its speed profile, odometer and detected aggressive maneuvers (corners, acceleration, brakes, and speeding).

It was developed to help drivers to build safe driving skills by encouraging good behavior. Developed as a smartphone application, Trekken does not require onboard devices and has the ability to reach millions of users. The user just has to install the app from Google Play and it’s done! Trekken will evaluate the driver with real-time feedback to help the user to identify where he needs to improve. In addition, good drivers have access to exclusive discounts from a variety of registered partners (Good Driver’s Discount Club).

www.trekken.com.br

History & Epiphany

When I came back to Brazil in 2012, after I finished my Ph.D. in France, I was shocked to remember how we Brazilians drive. After almost 7 years living abroad, I confess I had forgotten how aggressive we are when we are driving. This video of the Disney Goofy character describes in details how we behave. This video made by Disney is very interesting, it was made almost 50 years ago! So, came to my mind, this aggressiveness is not new and it will not change doing the same thing as always, namely, only fining aggressive drivers! We have to try something different, there is when the idea was born!

After this moment of epiphany, I invited my childhood friend Breno to create the Trekken. Together, we created an award-winning App that already helped more than 5000 people to improve their driving skills.

Why

Aggressive drivers are an important concern worldwide (1.2 million died in 2012 WHO). It results in substantial losses for fleet owners, insurance companies, and families, without mentioning public health expenditure.

We have developed Trekken to change this scenario by not only identifying such drivers but also helping and encouraging them to improve their driving skills. Trekken encourages good driving behavior in exchange for discounts.

Monetization

Developed as a smartphone application, Trekken is a scalable safe driving system for companies and families that do not require the installation of on-board devices. It is distributed in two versions: FREEMIUM(B2C) and BUSINESS(B2B).

Freemium: a social game that encourages good driving behavior in exchange for discounts on the Best Drivers Club (registered partners). Companies pay a fee every time a user buys a product through our platform.
Business (SAAS): Fleet owners, of any size, pay a monthly fee to access Trekken Dashboard to monitor, evaluate and rank their drivers to engage good drivers behavior.