The crowdfunding campaign was launched on Kickstarter on October 23.
An innovative car gadget and road safety platform 'Raksha SafeDrive', developed by a startup incubated at the state-run Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), has raised USD 5,048 in two weeks through online crowd funding platform Kickstarter.
Raksha SafeDrive, developed by Elsys Intelligent Devices Private Ltd, is a smart road safety platform enabled by the electronics, Internet of Things (IoT), telecommunications and cloud technologies, a release said in Thiruvananthapuram.
The crowdfunding campaign was launched on Kickstarter on October 23. The company is looking for more support from Indian customers for the product to reach its fundraising goal of USD 15,000. The campaign will end on December 7, it said.
"We have spent the last two years indigenously designing and making SafeDrive a cool, affordable gadget compatible with most cars running on Indian roads. We believe that ours is a true Make-In-India effort to address a global hard-pressing problem," Prasad Pillai, Co-founder, Elsys said.
"Currently there is no structured means to alert emergency services, first alert is initiated mostly by kind bystanders who inform about the incident," he added.
The SafeDrive gadget has a 'panic button' which can connect the passenger of a car with emergency services including ambulance, hospital, police, insurance provider and roadside assistance. It will also help the user by alerting people in family or friend circles during emergencies.
Raksha SafeDrive has incorporated the best practices outlined in United Nations Resolution on 'Improving Global Road Safety' as well as Government of India's proposed 'Road Transport & Safety Bill 2014'.
The company is supported by Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) seed funding.