Road.Travel, a PhocusWire
Hot 25 Startup of 2022, wants to shift the concept of travel from a carefully-planned,
stand-alone experience to a common part of everyday life – using connected cars
as the distribution channel.
Founded in 2018, the London-based startup is developing
technology to bridge the travel and automotive industries.
Road.Travel works with automobile manufacturers to integrate
its curated road trips into their vehicles. The vehicle’s infotainment system
becomes a virtual tour guide and travel assistant, using AI-powered voice
guidance by Cerence, a voice technology company that is also an investor in its
Series A, which will be announced soon.
In an interview in the PhocusWire Studio at Phocuswright
Europe, founder and CEO Nikita Dedik says the company will be announcing a
partnership with a major German carmaker in the near future.
For future product development, Dedik says the system will
work with motion detection technology in a vehicle to identify buildings and
attractions that passengers point to as they pass by. And if that building is,
for example, a hotel, the system can then ask if the user wants to make a
booking.
Watch Dedik’s full discussion with PhocusWire editor in
chief Mitra Sorrells below.
Phocuswright Europe 2022 Executive Interview: Road.Travel