2025 WINNER OF TE PUIAKI KAIPŪTAIAO ĀNAMATA THE FUTURE SCIENTIST PRIZE
The Prime Minister’s Future Scientist Prize has been won by Jesse Rumball-Smith, who was a student at Wellington College.
Jesse designed a smartphone app for road safety to solve a major safety issue: modern cars have many advanced safety features, but what about older vehicles?
The app is built on psychological principles for modifying behaviour.
It monitors drivers for signs of fatigue or ‘road rage’ and also alerts them to environmental hazards or excessive speed, with the aim of reducing fatalities – in Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond.
Read media release about Jesse’s Prize.
Advanced features in new cars, like intelligent speed assistance, can reduce harm, but people driving ageing vehicles are least likely to benefit.
But many drivers of older vehicles do own a smartphone – which is where Jesse’s app ‘Better Backseat Driver’ comes in.
It took Jesse about 3 years to develop his app, combining behavioural psychology and technology research.
He spent the first year researching how to communicate risk to drivers, before focusing on the technology: artificial intelligence and computer vision which monitor the road and environment, and rapidly detect the risk of a crash.
Jesse says he’s tested his app against industry-standard databases to validate its skills in perception and communication, and trialed it in three cities, with more than 30 drivers covering over 500km.
He sees potential to develop his app further, including for commercial vehicles, monitoring for pilots, and insurance.
