Follow the mellow green road ....
By Advance Business Capital 

GreenRoad Technologies makes a gizmo that is either a helpful risk calculator and fuel efficiency advisor or a real nag of a backseat driver – depending on whether you’re occupying a corporate cubicle or the cab of a rig.

GreenRoad’s system uses sensors, an accelerometer, GPS and customized      algorithms to calculate the relative risk of different driving maneuvers (speed handling, cornering, lane handling, braking and acceleration). It communicates that information to a two-inch dashboard device which illuminates either a red, amber or green light.

Realtime Feedback  
GreenRoad is the brain-child of Hod Fleishman, an Israeli entrepreneur who was run off the road one night by some wild kids. “If only their parents knew how they were driving…” he muttered to himself. He and colleague Ofer Raz decided to create a device that would do just that. During the three years of R&D it took to bring GreenRoad from idea to reality, it morphed from a consumer product to one aimed at commercial vehicles.

Installed mainly on commercial fleet vehicles (80 fleets so far), the device can have its algorithm customized according to a customer’s priorities, and it communicates information via cellular networks to GreenRoad’s data center. “The brains are in the vehicle,” says GreenRoad marketing chief Eric Weiss, so even in areas without cellular coverage, drivers “always get real-time feedback.”

Automakers like Ford and Toyota have begun to install similar tools in their vehicles. (The Prius display is particularly prized by drivers who want to maximize their MPG.) GreenRoad goes these one better by transmitting information to its password-protected website, where fleet managers can view more detailed information in a boggling array of charts and graphs that analyze driver habits and make recommendations on training and support.

Saving Gas and Lives 
Awesome, dude. But does it produce results? Sheffield Insulation is a business that delivers insulation and related products to construction sites across England. After installing the GreenRoad 360 in its HGV fleet in 2009, the company reports it has cut fuel consumption by 9.7% and accidents by a full quarter.

Although GreenRoad has yet to turn a profit, to date it has raised $48 million in capital from such venture visionaries as Benchmark Capital, Amadeus Capital, Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Green Fund and, most recently, $10 million from Al Gore’s Generation IM Climate Solution Fund.

With such big-time green backers and big greenbacks behind it, it looks like GreenRoad has a very bright road ahead.

This story was drawn from articles in Salon.com, Business Car, Earth2Tech, TechCrunch, The London Sourcewire and the GreenRoad website. 

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