The Road to
Innovation By MICHAEL GALLANT
RoadBounce uses cutting-e edge analytics to improve public safety and infrastructure, all through smartphones.
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martphones can do more than just help you upload selfies, connect with friends and find locations—they can help fix roads and save lives. This is the aim of RoadBounce, a new technology created by Pune-based Definitics Software Solutions. “When you’re in your car on the road, you expect to have a smooth, safe, pothole-free ride. But this expectation is not met in many places in the world,” says founder Ranjeet Deshmukh. “On the other hand, road authorities always struggle to collect the data they need to find and fix dangerous road conditions.” “We developed RoadBounce to bridge this gap,” he says.
12 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
Once installed, RoadBounce monitors how phones vibrate while resting inside a moving vehicle, using Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to record the precise locations where major vibrations—caused by potholes and damaged roads—occur. Then, RoadBounce analyzes data from multiple users, pinpointing the most dangerous areas and sharing that information with its customers. Its customers currently include municipal corporations, authorities in smart cities, national highway and road departments in India, and road contractors from Texas and elsewhere in the world. As a result, authorities know exactly where to send their repair crews, helping them maintain roads more effectively,