Road Buddy
Diana Wang, Alex Kyu, Anahita Sehgal, Tracy Meng, Yvonne Huang
Have you ever been on a road trip? Ever felt like you've missed out on a major stop? Have you ever been to a new location, but didn’t feel you had adequate recommendations for the right places to visit?
Now…imagine a time when you traveled with a local friend. You know. That friend. The one that knows you, knows what you like, and knows what you don’t. The one who knows all the cool stops on the way. The one who can tell you what's worth it.. And what's not. Now imagine you can recreate that exact experience everywhere you go. Meet RoadBuddy.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Problem
In the current landscape, many road trip planning tools lack the ability to plan and recommend stops before and during the trip. We want to help people optimize their trip planning at all points in their trip.
Solution
With our solution, RoadBuddy, travelers can feel confident that they will never miss an important stop along their travel route. We get to know you - who are you traveling with, your traveler type, and your preferred sources. This enables us to tailor recommendations that you can view both before and during your road trip.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
How might we help people optimize their travel routes and stops depending on travel preferences when planning a road trip?
In existing online travel planning tools, there is no support for attraction suggestions along the route. Travelers are only shown the fastest route but are not provided with alternate routes with stops along the way.
METHODS
INSIGHTS
Major Location Notification
People on road trips want a way to see major locations along their route so that they’re not missing out.
Tailored User Options
Users need tailored options according to user and travel types.
Spontaneous Options
Users are open to seeing stops along their route and making spontaneous decisions as long as the suggestions resonate with their interests.
Source Aggregation
Users want tailored recommendations either from specialized sources or from users who have the same set of needs
SOLUTION
To simplify the road trip travel planning process, we created an app designed to allow travelers to never miss an important stop along their route.
By entering information such as travel companions, types of travelers, and preferred external sources, users can get tailored recommendations on attractions along the travel route. They can also specify the notification timing to better plan for the spontaneous stops on the way, and see all stops prior to starting their trip.