Tampa-based transportation software developer, CeVe, recently announced the launch of the CeVe app, which solves a myriad of common issues drivers face daily.
The app works with or without your smartphone navigation to provide prompts on traffic light timing, school zone, and high-capacity special events, and speed limit information. The prompts are delivered visually or by voice to help you stay focused on the road ahead.
CeVe -- pronounced C.V. (short for Connected Vehicle) -- is ideal for all types of motorists from grocery and restaurant delivery and rideshare drivers to long-haul freight carriers and everyday commuters.
"We complement the popular traffic apps by providing unique information," says CeVe Founder David Aylesworth. "Most of those apps use crowd-sourced traffic and incident data, while we provide data from trusted sources such as transportation departments, school districts, and event venues."
CeVe offers convenience and peace of mind to drivers who don't need to use navigation apps to get where they're going, as well. "CeVe is designed to work without inputting a destination; just get in your car and drive," Aylesworth explains.
Aylesworth started toying around with the concept after reading about signal phase and timing on the U.S. Department of Transportation's Intelligence Transportation Systems (ITS) website. Within a few months of attending a Florida DOT presentation at an ITS conference in Orlando in June 2019, Aylesworth had recruited individuals to help develop software that could read publicly available traffic signal and intersection data.
In November of 2019, Aylesworth and his team attended a "hackathon" event called Talking Traffic Lights in Atlanta, where they developed and demonstrated the prototype CeVe app. The beta version was released the following February before the iteration available today was released in May.
CeVe is putting to work observations from users by applying it to future versions. "[Feedback] has been very positive, but we still have a lot to learn. We're currently interviewing different types of drivers (commuters, delivery, freight, transit) to understand how to best incorporate this technology into their lives and jobs. We would love to speak with anyone who's interested."
The app currently serves drivers in Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Gainesville, and Seminole County, Florida, and Northern Virginia, but Aylesworth says they're working on expanding areas. "Over the next couple months, we will add support for about 10 other metro areas nationwide, across five states," he says.
Aylesworth understands that most commercial drivers use Android phones, so he's making it a priority to develop an app for Android users, which he hopes to release this summer.
"We've started designing and prototyping the other features too, but the timing of those will largely be driven by the availability of data (when agencies start publishing smart work zones feeds) and partnerships with smart cities and infrastructure vendors (bike/pedestrian features require integration with crosswalk and/or traffic signal control equipment). We're working with these groups, though, and will hopefully have some initial deployments this year."
The CeVe app is available for purchase in the Apple store.
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