Drivent Exits Stealth Mode and Surprises Autonomous Vehicle Industry

Drivent’s proprietary technologies detect a fire in autonomous vehicles

Drivent announced it is certified to test autonomous vehicles in the state of Washington and unveiled essential technologies for autonomous vehicles. While the rest of the industry was working to enable self-driving vehicles to avoid collisions, Drivent took a completely different approach.

Eric Wengreen, who is a Stanford graduate and Drivent co-founder, said, “Years ago, we realized that encouraging widespread adoption of self-driving vehicles would require more than just making cars that don’t crash. While the autonomous industry focused on collision-avoidance technology, we focused on developing technology to overcome the non-collision barriers to adoption of autonomous vehicles.”

Drivent’s proprietary technology is essential to future autonomous vehicles and includes fire protection, communication systems, and features that optimize the user experience.

Many people are surprised to learn there are approximately 168,000 vehicle fires per year in the United States.¹ Without the necessary technology to detect and respond to a fire in an autonomous vehicle, the vehicle would continue driving while passengers are injured by the fire. Drivent’s proprietary technologies detect a fire in an autonomous vehicle and then cause the autonomous vehicle to automatically pull over to allow passengers to exit the vehicle.

U.S. police officers pull over more than 50,000 vehicles per day.² Jim Burch, President of the National Police Foundation, said, “Officers expect to find and speak with a person when they pull over or otherwise interact with an autonomous vehicle. Without Drivent’s technology, an officer would have limited options for resolving the issue, which could lead to significant time loss for public safety and occupants as well as more significant consequences, including potential impoundment.” Drivent’s proprietary technologies facilitate successful interactions with police officers and others by enabling a vehicle representative, located at a centralized call center, to speak with police officers, tow-truck operators, road-rage instigators, and other people outside the vehicle as situations require.  

Drivent’s technologies also make autonomous vehicles far more convenient. Features include ensuring dead phone batteries do not result in people being stranded without a ride; enabling autonomous vehicles to accurately predict when and where a person will want a ride; and providing additional capabilities that enhance the autonomous vehicle user experience.

Wes Schwie, Drivent’s co-founder, said, “Many of Drivent’s solutions will have the greatest impact not as stand-alone systems, but rather as elements integrated into the products and services of much larger players in the autonomous vehicle market.” For this reason, Schwie explained, “Drivent exited stealth mode to collaborate with industry leaders. We are excited to meet with additional companies.”

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