Last weekend, Stellantis held the company’s first “Hackathon”, inviting college students from around the area to team up to showcase their programming skills. The name Hackathon may suggest that these students were trying to hack into the various systems, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, the teams of students used data from Stellantis vehicles, the cloud-based Stellantis software development kit (SDK) and input from Stellantis software engineers to develop an app that helps drivers operate their vehicles more safely and more efficiently.
“The power of data is fueling Stellantis on its journey to transform mobility and seamlessly integrate vehicles into people’s lives,” said Yves Bonnefont, Stellantis chief software officer. “We are thrilled to offer young and bright students the opportunity to sharpen their skills in a real and exciting environment and pitch their ideas to our software experts. Challenges like these not only prove how data can help find new ways to create customer-focused applications; they also unlock the power of teams, which in turn creates new levels of innovation, making driving safer and environmentally friendly.”
The students were asked to “gamify” the act of driving safer and more efficiently in a smartphone app that rewards you for smoother, safer driving and takes points away when you are using too much gas or driving in an erratic manner. These apps look at parameters such as braking activity, acceleration rate, throttle input, vehicle speed and other inputs to provide a score. In short, the goal was to create an app that encourages safer, more fuel friendly driving in a game-like format.
The winning team was awarded $15,000 while second place got $5,000 and third took home $2,000.
Patrick Rall is a professional writer and photographer with a passion for all things automotive. Having grown up in his father’s performance shop, he spent extensive time at the oval track and drag strip – both driving and wrenching on various types of vehicles. In addition to working as a writer, Patrick previously worked as an automotive technician before moving on to a business office position with a chain of dealerships, and this broad spectrum of experience in the industry allows him to offer a unique look on the automotive world. Follow Patrick on Twitter, Facebook and on Youtube.
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