Backseat Driver

Inspiration

Many people in our team have experience with bad road trips. We have often found ourselves in stressful situations where we don’t know the surrounding locations but still find ourselves in need of food, gas, and an optimal route to take. Not only is this frustrating, but it is actively harmful, needlessly raising stress levels and potentially wasting money in gas. Backend Driver relieves these stresses, plotting out the most optimal route for a road trip and guaranteeing the happiness of your driving experience.

What it does

Backseat Driver plots out your perfect road trip using Inrix APIs to determine the optimal route before you leave the comfort of your home. If you want to grab food, by entering the time you want to eat, the Backseat Driver will take the nearest restaurants you will be around into account and enter them into your optimal route. It can even plan for gas!

How we built it

We used various Inrix APIs to determine the optimal route path from point A to point B with multiple stops along the way. By separating the route into multiple smaller segments we can observe the predicted time and distance spent in each one. This allows us to simulate where a car will be when the car either runs out of gas or needs to grab food which means that we can determine the closest point to fix those issues.

Challenges we ran into

Initially, we ran into an issue with the Inrix Fuel API, we were planning on using it to calculate nearby gas stations however we didn’t have access to the API so we asked for gas station data around San Francisco. Our Biggest Challenge was figuring out how waypoints work and all the segment's APIs for it.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re most proud of our solution to determining the location of a car when one of our reroute conditions is met. This allows us to plan the most optimal route, saving both time and money, and allowing for a safer, happier, and healthier road trip.

What we learned

Using Python as a backend for a javascript project, especially with overlapping systems like Vercel, Flask, and Astro all trying to route Python algorithmic thinking, as well as how to effectively read data both with and without documentation, were both skills that were well developed by this hackathon Using INRIX APIs with external APIs has shown how important it can be to make connections in new ways, and can lead to some very interesting products

What's Next for Backseat Driver

If we have the full Inrix Segments API we can use the API to more effectively calculate the distance and route to everywhere, rather than just the San Francisco Bay area. Additionally, we might be able to add more functionality for rest stops, hotels, etc. drastically reducing the stress of planning a road trip.