Students tackle safety issues at Uber Hackathon

During the event, students worked in groups of up to five individuals and were encouraged to creatively develop innovative digital solutions to safety issues which have affected many communities in South Africa. During the course of the two days, the students had to put together a detailed presentation that outlined their chosen issue and the technology solution that would solve it. The students had the choice of either building a device, creating software or a prototype of hardware.

R-Vaye, the winning safety solution was pitched by three students from the University of Witwatersrand, Vaal University of Technology, and Umuzi Institution. Operating in large groups has always been known to scare criminals away, which was the basis of the creation of their winning technology solution known as the R-Vaye app.

R-Vaye is a platform that promotes safety for users and alleviates vulnerability to theft by connecting those that may start early or finish work late and are vulnerable to safety incidents as they walk alone. The app allows them to connect to other users, who are close by, with the same destination point so that they can meet up and walk together. For safety reasons, and to avoid robbers from joining the app, it can only be accessible to registered users who follow specific steps.

Tech for Safety Summit

The team that created R-Vaye, the winning safety solution

The winning group was given the opportunity to present their technology safety solution at the recent Tech for Safety Summit, hosted by Uber, which brought over 230 participants from the country’s most prominent leaders, corporates, start-ups and innovators, to explore South Africa’s safety challenges and how technology can be used to build safer communities now and in the future.

The summit included a number of panel discussions which focused on the major safety concerns that are faced by South African citizens daily, and it looked at developing technology features into innovative solutions that will enhance safety and security within the country. The hard work and dedication of these students clearly demonstrated that innovative thinking really has a powerful impact on the revolutionary change that will bring safety to the future cities of tomorrow.