Apps for Street Safety

The best app for keeping pedestrians safe in NYC? One that tells them, on their phones, whether the street they are about to cross has a "don't walk" sign lit. This app, Tug, was one of the winners of AT&T's Connected Intersections Challenge; the NYU Rudin Center hosted the awards ceremony this morning.  See the video to learn more about the challenge:

The winners of the Challenge were:

Solutions for Pedestrians & Cyclists – Grand Prize Winner & Popular Choice Winner
Tug
Utilizing low-energy Bluetooth technology, messages are sent from crosswalk signs to all smartphones at the intersection running the application in order to alert pedestrians to wait for oncoming traffic or to cross safely when they have the right of way.

Solutions for Drivers – Grand Prize Winner
Anti-Sleep Alarm
Using a Samsung Gear 2 smartwatch and a smartphone, the Anti-Sleep Alarm app detects the drowsiness of a driver via hand gestures or facial recognition and prompts the driver to pull over and rest or it sets off an alarm if the app determines the driver is falling asleep behind the wheel.

Solutions for Pedestrians & Cyclists– Second Prize Winner & Multi-Modal Winner
Rider Alert
Rider Alert hardware scans the street for Bluetooth-enabled smartphones while moving through traffic with a motorist. It will sound an alert on smartphones running the Rider Alert application when pedestrians and cyclists are nearby. The app also uses smartphone sensors to notice if the driver is looking at the smartphone screen and warns the driver to look up.

Multi-Modal Winner
Yield
Utilizing Bluetooth low-energy technology, Yield detects drivers or pedestrians within 10 to 30 meters in proximity of a smartphone using the app and delivers an alert notifying them to the other person's presence.

Solutions for Drivers – Popular Choice Winner
Drowsy Detector
Using facial recognition technology, the app determines when a driver is getting drowsy and sends a warning followed by an alert that can be deactivated only when driving is ceased. The app also sends alerts to others in the area that a drowsy driver is nearby.

Solutions for Drivers – Second Prize Winner
Drive Safely
An app that uses NFC technology to determine if a smartphone user is sitting in the drivers seat of a vehicle and sends an auto-reply message to incoming calls and texts while the vehicle is moving The app runs in the background and will not activate on public transit or when the smartphone owner is a passenger in a vehicle.

Solutions for Pedestrians & Cyclists – Large Organization Recognition Award
Look up!
Utilizing GPS technology, smartphone accelerometer and wearable sensors, the app anticipates when a pedestrian is crossing an intersection and delivers an on-screen alert warning the pedestrian to look up.

Solutions for Drivers – Large Organization Recognition Award
SafeDrive App
An app that awards points to drivers for not texting while driving and provides the smartphone owner the opportunity to redeem those points for products and services at partner companies.

The judges were:  Marissa Shorenstein of AT&T; Kim Wiley-Schwartz of the New York City Department of Transportation; Mitchell Moss of NYU Rudin Center for Transportation; Matthew Brimer of General Assembly; Luke DuBois of New York University's Polytechnic School of Engineering; and Justin Hendrix of NYC Media Lab.

Event photos below; we highly recommend checking out the apps.

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