Road.Travel’s newest trip takes app into Audi, BMW UK

Road.Travel and its road trip travel app are getting around.

The London-based digital platform of curated driving routes — one of PhocusWire’s Hot 25 Startups in 2022 – announced two new partnerships that will soon make its app available for drivers of new Audis as well as BMW owners in the United Kingdom.

The deals mean drivers of those cars can browse, select and follow any of Road.Travel’s curated itineraries directly through their car navigation systems.

The deal with Audi will debut this summer in select vehicles equipped with Audi’s group application store that contains dozens of apps, including Spotify, Amazon Music and TikTok. Plans are for the group application store to extend across VW Group’s lineup, including the rest of Audi’s portfolio, Porsche and Volkswagen.

Being pre-loaded on a vehicle’s dashboard with some of the world’s most popular apps is a good place to be, said Nikita Dedik, founder and CEO of Road.Travel.

“Most of those apps are Spotify-like. They’re not very much focused on using the car, per se,” he told PhocusWire. “Road.Travel is a very different story. We’re bringing curated road trip content … into your car.”

As part of the deal with BMW UK, Road.Travel’s adaptive travel guides will be available through the manufacturer’s proprietary app, My BMW. The company also crafted exclusive scenic routes for drivers to explore Britain, including Dorset, Peak District National Park, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, Brecon Beacons National Park and Snowdonia National Park.

Overall, Road.Travel has more than 2,000 adaptive road trip guides in 57 countries. The guides include detailed itineraries, places of interest, recommended locations to stay and eat, among other information.

While the new deals don’t represent a huge number of cars, Dedik said it’s a start the company hopes to build on.

“It’s basically the same story as if you have a smart phone and an app store; you can download apps, but there’s millions of apps,” he said. “In the cars, it will be just a few, so it’s a good starting point. We believe that trying to aggressively enter all these channels will make us the go-to brand for road trips.”

The company was founded in 2018 and related its plans for growth in a PhocusWire Startup Stage Q&A. Dedik also spoke about the company’s future with PhocusWire editor in chief Mitra Sorrells in 2022 at Phocuswright Europe.