College students create Routora app to help drivers find best routes, calculate gas
NORTH TEXAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) - In North Texas, getting around is more than just a commute, it's a task.
But there's a new app, available now, that can help you find the best route if you have multiple stops called Routora.
It's developed by several North Texans who are now students at UT Dallas and Notre Dame.
This idea was sparked by Tom Vazhekatt, a Coppell native, by doing chores for his family.
"I'd go running errands for my parents and i would have all these different locations across the city and would wonder, what is the best route that I can take," said Vazhekatt.
So he wanted an app designed to get you where you need to go on the quickest route. Vazhekatt said the other map apps direct you in the order you enter them in, which is not necessarily the most efficient.
"We find the fastest order of stops so a better route could be A and then D and then C, B and E, right?," added Vazhekatt.
In Routora, you can enter in multiple addresses, and it will compute the fastest route and even estimate how much you'll pay in gas.
Vazhekatt was helped by winning UT Dallas' Big Idea Competition, fueling in $25,000 to this venture.
His business partner, also a North Texas native, said this serves an unmet need, "We were like people are using this, it's a viable piece of technology, let's try to make this into a business," said Luke Blazek.
Today, close to 20,000 drivers are on platform from over 90 countries around the world and saving them miles on the road.
"Our goal, our mission is to help our drivers save time spent on the road, money spent on gas and to really help them reduce their carbon footprint," added Vazhekatt.
Vazhekatt is just 21-years-old and set to graduate, when he does, he's planning on working and developing this app full time, "We're really giving some of that time back to our drivers and seeing that sort of impact really is so motivating for me."
Vazhekatt said this could be used for delivery drivers, realtors, people who want to carpool or whoever.
The app is free to download.
