Berkeley SkyDeck startup creates 'digital seatbelt' for self-driving cars

UC Berkeley SkyDecky startup "!Important" has made it a mission to save lives through software that would prevent self-driving vehicles from striking pedestrians. When a 49-year-old woman died on March 18, 2018, after getting struck by an autonomous Uber test vehicle in Tempe, Arizona, Bastien Beauchamp was inspired to create a product that would prevent more self-driving cars from hitting pedestrians and, in turn, save lives. More than two years later, as part of UC Berkeley SkyDeck's startup accelerator program, Beauchamp and his company,!Important, have developed technology that he calls "the digital version of a seat belt." The software uses smartphone location data and machine learning to calculate distances between pedestrians, drivers and self-driving cars and to alert all of them prior to a collision. "Pedestrian fatalities are a significant problem," said Beauchamp.