Elsys Launches Raksha SafeDrive - India's First Smart Road Safety Platform

News provided by

Elsys Intelligent Devices Pvt. Ltd.

27 Oct, 2015, 16:46 IST

BANGALORE, October 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

- Initiative Would Revolutionize How Indians Call for Help and How India Responds to Road Emergencies

- A People Driven Technology Movement to Adopt Road Safety and Responsible Driving

Road accidents have been a global epidemic and a leading cause of injury, disability and untimely death across the world. It is estimated that by 2030, road accidents will be the 5th leading cause of deaths worldwide, killing more people than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined.

Unfortunately, India is among the nations with highest number of road fatalities. Our Prime Minister Sri. Narendra Modi recently shared that Indian roads witness 55 accidents every hour and one untimely death every 4 minutes. A third of all the people dying belong to the age group 15-25 years and it is estimated that road accidents are costing India 3% of its GDP.

Elsys Intelligent Devices Pvt. Ltd., an Indian startup, has launched Raksha SafeDrive , a smart road safety platform enabled by electronics, Internet of Things (IoT), telecommunications and cloud technology. The platform involves SafeDrive - an innovative IoT Car gadget connected to RakshaNet - a network of emergency services. 

How Raksha SafeDrive works:  

SafeDrive has automatic crash detection capabilities and will alert the command centre with the location and an initial assessment of the crash for effective management of emergency services. This standalone IoT device also works as smart panic button, capable of GPS tracking, reporting telemetrics and improving driving behaviour.  

In case of an emergency, SafeDrive will open a communication channel, at the touch of a button between the people necessary to effectively manage the situation. This may include family, friends, first responders, ambulance, hospital, police, insurance provider and roadside assistance.  

In India, traditional measures to make roads safer have largely been about making stringent rules and levying higher penalties. However, Elsys aspires to apply technology to make adoption of road safety & compliance 'Cool' and incentivize good driving behaviour.

Prasad Pillai, Co-founder, Elsys, said, "We've spent the last two years indigenously designing and making SafeDrive cool, affordable and compatible with most cars running on Indian roads. We believe that ours is a true 'Make-In-India' effort to address a global hard-pressing problem."

Raksha SafeDrive has been launched as a technology campaign on KickStarter - the world's most popular crowdfunding platform to bring creative projects to life. The campaign requires at least few hundred backers (pre-orders) to pilot the platform nationwide.

Jayanth Jagadeesh, Co-founder, Elsys, said, "Internet and crowdfunding platforms have been successful globally in bringing out disruptive products and transforming the way of life. We hope that our campaign will spark mainstream discussions and bring together various stakeholders required to make our roads safer."

Raksha SafeDrive has incorporated the best practices outlined in the United Nations resolution on 'Improving Global Road Safety' (A/68/269) as well as government of India's proposed 'Road Transport & Safety Bill 2014'.

Elsys has been bootstrapped by the founders and is now seeking strategic investments and mentors to accelerate the building of nation-wide Smart Road Safety Platform.

About the founders  

Prasad is the prime-mover and chief strategist at eLsys. His passion is in building technology solutions for common everyday problems. He is also a safety freak and during his home town visits after long gaps of being in US, he was able to make a striking contrast with driving scenario existing on Indian roads. He is now passionate about facilitating next-gen accident detection and analysis system in India.

Jayanth is an avid biker and an outdoor enthusiast. One of his memorable adventures was a 5,000 kms solo motorcycle road trip from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. His passion for the open highways includes the nuances of road-safety. He dreams of making roads safe enough for people to enjoy their journey instead of worrying too much about managing unforeseen exigencies.

Did you know that in India, 1,332 road accidents occur every day, killing 377 people and injuring another 1355 people? And these statistics are only from the cases reported.

   
                             Annual   Daily (average)
    Road Accidents           4,86,476           1,332
    Number of deaths         1,37,572             377
    Number of injured people 4,94,893           1,355

Note: All data for the year of 2013

In short, the grim story of Indian roads is that,

  • 55 accidents every hour
  • 56 people injured every hour
  • 1 death every 4 minutes (average)
  • Every fourth accident kills a person (average)
  • Tamil Nadu had the highest number of road accidents (66,238) and also the highest number of persons injured in road accidents (75,681) in 2013.
  • Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of road accident related fatalities (16,004) in 2013.

Media Contacts:
Jayanth Jagadeesh
[email protected],
+91-9900146680,
Co-Founder & CMO,
Raksha SafeDrive

Ashish Srivastava
+91-8105209851,
Director,
The Messengers PR