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Posted by Asako Tsumagari on 30 Aug 2007, (10) Comments — Electronics |
Great! The idea has legs!
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Startup Concept Summary
Background of This Start-up Idea - Emergency Vehicle Direction Detector
Again when I was driving on the street today, I heard the emergency vehicle siren. I can not tell if it is coming from the back, front, right or left. What is worse, I am getting to an intersection, and I see a total chaos happening. The traffic accidents that directly involve emergency vehicle are frequent. In NY State, emergency vehicles injure more than 2 people a day. If you count the collision that is caused by the confusion, that must be a lot.
My new idea is a direction detector of emergency vehicle siren that you can just place on top of your dashboard. It will tell you if it is from the back, front, right or left.
Current Situation of Technology Research
I looked for such a product but I could not find it, even on On-Star/GM, as far as I see on their web.
Instead, I found some interesting articles that indicate there are people researching it. As I expected, GM is one of them. In this link, you can find that GM and Stanford University were working on this idea in 2003. I can not find what happened to it afterwards.
There is another approach proposed from Professor Deborah Withington in UK. According to her research paper , emergency siren is set in the wavelength/frequency that is too difficult for human ear to localize the direction. Her proposal is to change the sound of siren.
However, nothing seems to have been implemented. I could speculate a few reasons:
I think there’s an opportunity to take Stanford/GM technical approach, and market it in the different way. You may be able to sell it as an independent solution, as a cool gimmick, as a supplementary solution for consumers, not as a guaranteed service of Onstar. (Please make sure to consult with a product liability expert, before you do anything).
Strategy and Tips for This Startup Idea
1) Sourcing technologies
Don’t get discouraged with the fact that GM and Stanford guys have tried it already. nothing is new in this world, and you can always find other people who have tried it in the past.
Your first action should be finding these Stanford students who did the project for GM. Many cases, they will help you. Particularly, if they felt unhappy that GM is not pursuing it, they may want to be a part of your endeavor. You may be able to work with Stanford University to transfer the technology. I could not find related patents by either Stanford or General Motors on US patent database. If they have not patented it, that would be a good news. (Please do your search yourself as well)
2) Global Sourcing of Components
I found a list of directories of Chinese suppliers! Made-in-China.com, Global Sources, ChineseSuppliers.org, Global-Markings.com.
The system will likely include a number of the components like antenna, signal processing, and display. I am sure you have a friend who is an electric engineer, you can get some helps. Only the challenge is the sound direction detecter that only detects the emergency vehicle siren. I do not know if there’s any programmable off-the-shelf component for sound direction detection. If you need to develop a proprietary hardware for it, then, this is going to be very expensive.
3) Marketing
This is a category that is very difficult to sell by setting up your own web store - people would not search for. This is an impulse purchase item.
So you need to find the right channel to be able to catch people at the right moment. Auto accessory related online stores are a good place for you to start contacting. Your objective is to be listed together with other auto related impulse items like coffee cup holders, and rear view cameras.
Here are some places you may want to contact, Auto Accessory Store, JC Whitney, Best Buy auto category.
And of course, you should submit your products to SkyMall and Sharper Image’s online store. Those are probably the best bets for you.
Is Emergency Vehicle Direction Director an Financially Attractive Concept?
Good news is any auto accessory tends to be pricier. I found a simple cup holder costing $70. Bluetooth handsfree kit costs $135. Bumblebee back up /forward license plate camera costs $260. So probably something like $89 is OK for this system as a price from your channel to consumers. So your channels would be willing to pay around $50 assuming your channel is an online store.
Assuming the system can be constructed based on off-the-shelf 4-5 electronics components, each of which costs $1-2 from Chinese suppliers. You can produce the final product including packaging at less than $20 per piece. If you sell 10,000 piece, that already gives you profit of $300,000. Not bad.
Who Should Pursue This Startup Idea?
If you can not produce this with existing technologies and off-the-shelf electric components, this could cost too much to start up.
The person who can judge it and manage the risk would have an electronic R&D background. If you are an R&D person working for automobile related companies, this may be a way to get out of your corporate life and startup!!
Comments for "Emergency Vehicle Direction Detector"
01 Sep 2007 at 12:26 AM
Hi there - I know the feeling. And the problem is, when there’s lots of cars on the road it can cause chaos as many don’t know which direction the emergency vehicle is coming from.
Your idea is a good one. I know you mentioned it would be difficult to market to consumers. What about marketing it to the government.
If not having this product is causing problems to the emergency service, maybe you could get the government to recommend the device be installed in all new cars.
Or you could market it to the manufacturer of the cars. It would make their cars safer - stop people from panicking and prevent accidents if they knew which way the vehicle was coming.
The only problem would be if they did change the pitch of the vehicles after you’d released the product, as this would make it obsolete.
01 Sep 2007 at 01:19 AM
Catherine, thank you for great comments. I should have thought about the possibility of the government. And your last point is important. Probably, I was caught by the perception these big manufactures are not interested in. You are right, of course, if it works, they would not mind adding it on their safety marketing claim. I have not studied the whole patent landscape, but it will be a key for the person to claim a patent to defend the position.
14 Jul 2009 at 03:00 AM
Emergency vehicle preemption is a simple but important operational tool implemented by many agencies to aid emergency vehicles through traffic signals, allowing the
vehicles to avoid signal delay and reduce response times. The City of Seattle was using a traditional hard-wired preempt system which was controlled at the fire stations.
When an emergency call was received and emergency vehicles dispatched, the preemption was activated by a push of a button at the station. This button would turn
one or more traffic signals green in the priority direction and would remain in preempt until the call was removed. This system provided high reliability for the emergency
vehicles, but imposed significant delay to general purpose and pedestrian traffic during the preemption, and would produce congestion that had lasting effects on the network.
For example, if an emergency vehicle is to travel the length of 4th Avenue, all traffic signals along the route would stay in the preemption phase for the length of the trip,delaying side street vehicles and pedestrians. Assuming the emergency vehicles travel
at the speed limit, the preemption period could last 4 minutes or more.
thanks
high jumping
16 Aug 2009 at 08:32 AM
When an emergency call was received and emergency vehicles dispatched, the preemption was activated by a push of a button at the station. This button would turn
one or more traffic signals green in the priority direction and would remain in preempt until the call was removed. This system provided high reliability for the emergency
vehicles, but imposed significant delay to general purpose and pedestrian traffic during the preemption, and would produce congestion that had lasting effects on the network.
18 Sep 2009 at 05:57 AM
In a perfect world, the transmitter is working perfectly and the lens covering the strobe head is perfectly clean; the detectors sensitivity is optimally set, the detector’s lens is perfectly clean, and the traffic signal electronics are functioning correctly; and there is no visible obstruction between the transmitter and detector
20 Oct 2009 at 05:29 PM
This can be very helpful to many. Helps lessen the accidents and fatalities due to car accidents and road accidents. Hoping that it will be implemented to all vehicles in the near future.
29 Oct 2009 at 11:46 PM
Where is the worlds biggest fire station?
Fire science bachelor degree
20 Nov 2009 at 03:37 AM
If your looking for California case-law, probably the best law-database around is west law, however it requires $$ to sign up.
Car Accident Compensation
19 Dec 2009 at 07:01 AM
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23 Dec 2009 at 02:28 PM
one or more traffic signals green in the priority direction and would remain in preempt until the call was removed. This system provided high reliability for the emergency
vehicles, but imposed significant delay to general purpose and pedestrian traffic during the preemption, and would produce congestion that had lasting effects on the network.