Archive for Transportation

Langston Whitlock – SAFETRIP

Posted by giuntanr22 
· Monday, October 14th, 2024 
· 1 Comment

Langston Whitlock created his first messaging app at age 12 and then went on to be a co-founder of another app/business called SAFETRIP. SAFETRIP is an app that is basically “uber for ambulances”. It is a healthcare based rideshare app where users can schedule rides for non-emergency medical transportation or emergency medical transportation. Users pay for the rides either through their insurance, debit or credit cards. This app has been revolutionary for the users in Atlanta where the app is based, saving them time and money just from scheduling their medical transportation through Whitlock’s app.

Langston created his messaging app at age 12 to try and contact his absent father. This got Langston working with code and developing his technology skills that would eventually lead and guided him to eventually assist in the creation of SAFETRIP. Once created, SAFETRIP had over $2 million in funding, which is largely due to Langston’s technologies.

Langston did not have a father in his young life, and it pushed him to be creative and innovative and try to find a way to contact his father. His experience with coding his first app prepared him for creating SAEFTRIP in the future. Langston saw his experience and skills as a calling from God, calling him to pursue what he excelled at, his technology skills, and use them to make a difference.

The other co-founder Ja’Nese Jean, saw military veterans who could not afford or who didn’t have access to health care and wanted to help them. She brought in Langston because of his expertise and his passion for technology. Together they created SAFETRIP that is available on IOS and Android stores and is based in Georgia.

Langston is a great example of a young entrepreneur who found his passion and talents at an early age, and who used his experience in his childhood to later develop a great app that makes a true difference in the community he lives in today. He combined his skills and experiences, all of which prepared him and led him to the business he is now the CIO of.

1 Comment
Categories : Medicine, Transportation

Langston Whitlock- Co-Founder and CIO of SAFETRIP

Posted by lanzilottadn24 
· Friday, September 20th, 2024 
· 2 Comments

Lanston Whitlock is a self-made entrepreneur that grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. Whitlock started coding at the age of 12 when he built a anonymous messaging app that would allow him to contact his absent father. Whitlock talks about how his first project helps guide him into his future and what he wants to accomplish.  The idea for SAFETRIP came along when Co-founder Ja’Nese Jean saw and talked to a homeless veteran who said people around Atlanta don’t have transportation to get to medical appointments.  She quickly brought on Whitlock just at the age of 17 who she had met years prior working at local events. Above all, she brought Whitlock on due to his coding experience and creativity to make the app. In 2018, they launched SAFETRIP as the world’s first healthcare transportation mobile app and digital health platform. SAFETRIP allows users to harness Whitlock’s patented technology to book non-emergency and emergency medical transport. Users are offered premium cars, vans, wheelchair accessible vehicles, and ambulances with the option of paying for services with insurance. The app itself launched in 2018 and in 2019 and made $3.4 million in revenue; also, it currently has $2 million in funding. SAFETRIP found a way to help the community around them. Whitlock talks about how his faith has played a role in his journey “Whatever you’re good at is likely what you’re called to do, and never give up. Even if your dad walks out of your life, pray to God and try to move forward with your life. God will provide resources”. Whitlock acknowledges that if you put God first in your life the rest will follow.  Additionally, Whitlock has never let his age get in the way of his purpose and journey. He continues to inspire millions of people around the world.

Sources:

Meet The 16-year-old Genius Behind SAFETRIP’s Technology – AfroTech

Meet 16 Teen Founders Who Are Building Big Businesses — and Making Big Money | Entrepreneur

 

 

2 Comments
Categories : Health, Transportation

SAFETRIP

Posted by abi.renee 
· Tuesday, October 18th, 2022 
· 2 Comments

SAFETRIP is a wonderful app designed to book non-emergency and emergency medical transport for the elderly, veterans, homeless, and anyone else in need. Surprisingly, this revolutionary idea was co-founded by young engineer Langston Whitlock. 

At 12 years-old,  Langston was learning to code and fell in love with it. Eventually, Langston used his newfound knowledge to make an app to contact his absent father. With these skills, Langston was later brought on to the SAFETRIP team by Ja’Nese Jean. 

Ja’Nese Jean, a co-founder of SAFETRIP, birthed the idea when witnessing a homeless veteran not having access to healthcare or transportation. Knowing Langston’s skillset, she invited him to the developing team to collaborate together and make the revolutionary app come to life. 

This app allows its users to book emergency or non-emergency transportation. Vehicles include premium cars, vans, wheelchair accessible vehicles, and ambulances as needed. 

Since its creation, SAFETRIP has raised over 2 million dollars in funding because of Langston’s technology. Although it’s currently based in Georgia, the company hopes to soon expand into other parts of the country and make an even bigger impact. 

2 Comments
Categories : App, App development, Health, Programming, Teen Entrepreneurs, Transportation

Jeff Cripe, Founder of Cargo

Posted by richardsonlg20 
· Saturday, September 18th, 2021 
· 4 Comments

Entrepreneur Jeff Cripe, who is 29 years old, is an impressive example of a young innovative thinker.  Cripe began as an employee at Birchbox where he was first introduced to the world of startups.  Not long after, Cripe had an idea, and decided to take a shot at his own startup.  Cripe’s idea was to piggyback off of already existing rideshare services and add a vending component.  By adding a box full of snacks, along with a scannable QR code that allows riders to make a payment, Cripes company, known as Cargo, added an entire new way to generate profit within the ridesharing market.  Already, Cargo has partnered with Uber, Grab, and Go-Jek, all leaders in the rideshare industry.  Part of what makes Cripe’s idea so effective is its simplicity.  Cargo didn’t require the invention of anything new.  Ridesharing has existed for almost a decade, and vending machines much longer.  It was simply the combination of these two concepts that was so revolutionary, and allowed for Cargo’s success.  Cripe’s story offers inspiration for how simply seeing the potential for a combination of two products in a way that no one else has seen before can lead to the creation of a successful company.

4 Comments
Categories : Great Ideas, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Transportation
Tags : ,

Langston Whitlock’s SafeTrip: Unique, Thriving, & Safe

Posted by Annalese Aderholt 
· Monday, December 14th, 2020 
· 3 Comments

Langston Whitlock is an 18-year-old Atlanta-native, Georgia State University freshman, longtime coder, drummer, son, and brother. Also, he is cofounder and chief information officer (CIO) of the multi-million dollar company, SafeTrip, which provides ridesharing services for the homeless and elderly in the Atlanta, Georgia area who are in need of reliable transportation to medical appointments and wheelchair compatibility. It all started when Whitlock and Ja’Nese Jean, opera singer, social entrepreneur, philanthropist, and now SafetTrip’s CEO, who had been friendly colleagues in Atlanta for several years, were attending a local event and discovered the problem they would soon solve with SafeTrip. As they were at the community outreach event, Whitlock told Jean that he had heard from a local homeless veteran that many people in the area were unable to make it to important medical appointments due to lack of transportation. Jean replied by asking “Can you make an app for that?”

Whitlock learned how to write code as a young 12-year-old when he created an anonymous messaging app to try and contact his father; at 16 he became the youngest person to be recognized by Forbes Enterprise Technology judges and CIO for the company, meaning he oversees the development team and helps implement sourcing data and new technologies, such as users being able to pay for rides by debit, credit, or insurance. Though everyone else who works for the company is older than him, he says this is no issue at all and it works well; if anything, he says, “They love me cause I’m a kid, I guess.” Additionally, his perspective as a young person has proven valuable: SafeTrip recruits new high school graduates to be drivers for the company in order to further community-connectedness and to help teens who may not have a clear path ahead of them; also, these kids have just recently learned things like defensive driving and CPR at school, so these skills are fresh in their minds.

The app itself launched in 2018 and in 2019 made $3.4 million in revenue; also, it currently has $2 million in funding. Their motivation, besides wanting to better their community and help those in need, is also rooted in that the Atlanta-based company wants to show that the Atlanta technology scene is just as impressive and valuable as Silicon Valley. Additionally, Whitlock is personally committed to providing for his mother and bringing her all the happiness in the world, as a way of repaying her for the work she has put in throughout his life.

Overall, Langston Whitlock is a great example of a young entrepreneur in the 21st century. He and his cofounder saw a problem in their community and, using their existing skillsets and resources as active community members, and building on the typical idea of ridesharing went out and solved a real problem for the greater good.

3 Comments
Categories : Business, Convenience, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, Transportation, Uncategorized
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Kyle Doerksen: Onewheel

Posted by StrattonEA20 
· Wednesday, September 30th, 2020 
· 4 Comments

Kyle Doerksen, creator of the futuristic one-wheel skateboard, was born in 1987. During his childhood he gained prestige by winning the Canada wide science fair, and he learned to snowboard which became crucial to his future life. He had a love of LEGOs and a knack for taking apart and rebuilding his parents appliances.

He attended Stanford university, and instead of deciding on one major, he chose to combine computer science, electrical engineering, and biology, wrapping them into a degree he called neuroengineering. During his first interdisciplinary degree he realized that it would be helpful for him to get another degree, this time in mechanical engineering.

Although Kyle had a wide range of interests and ideas including a work on a radar system that could “see” underground, he eventually landed on the concept of electric transportation. He worked for a time in a company called Farady bikes, an electric bike company. He was important to the company, but it wasn’t what he ultimately wanted to do. Before he had even started at Faraday bikes, he had been working on another idea, one that would eventually become an incredible reality.

This was his design for a one-wheeled, gyroscopic, electric skateboard: the Onewheel. His daily walk to work was long and somewhat mundane and he began to investigate types of transportation. His earlier love of snowboarding paired with his knack for electrical vehicles birthed the Onewheel. After making a few prototypes he decided to put his idea on Kickstarter. The idea achieved massive success gaining the required 100,000 dollars in backing in less than 4 days. He launched the idea, made the boards, and achieved great success.

Ultimately Kyle Doerksen could be considered more of an inventor than a businessman, but his innovation in the world of transportation is incredible. His innovation was not only designed to fulfill a transportation need though, his product is interesting, suave, and brings genuine joy to the riders. His futuristic Onewheel was an incredible innovation in the realm of transportation.

4 Comments
Categories : Transportation, Uncategorized

Sustainable Air Transportation

Posted by ZeislerWB20 
· Monday, September 14th, 2020 
· 5 Comments

Wright Electric was founded by Jeffrey Mark Engler to solve the problem carbon emissions by airplanes.  Flying is an essential part of modern transportation, but it can triple a persons carbon footprint.  Wright Electric is working on developing an electric airplane that will have much lower carbon emissions than current passenger jets.  The Wright 1 airplane that is in development will be able to carry 186 passengers, and it will use batteries to power electric motors for propulsion.  Lower carbon emissions will be achieved by using electric power and a more aerodynamic design that reduces drag and makes the airplane more efficient.  Battery powered airplanes are becoming more realistic as a result of research by government agencies such as NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory that are making batteries more efficient and lighter.  An electric airplane has some additional benefits.  Electric motors are much quieter than traditional jet engines, and the decreased use of fuel will make electric airplanes cheaper to fly.  Wright electric is also designing their airplane so that batteries can be quickly swapped at an airport to allow for a faster turnaround time.

Wright Electric has partnered with experienced airlines such as EasyJet, Jetex, and VivaAerobus to get commercial, operational, and maintenance insight during the design process.  The Wright 1 will not have a very large range at first with 500km or 311mi flights from London to Paris, but it will be able to get up a 1,280km or 800mi range.  The Wright 1 will also have slower cruising speeds than similarly sized passenger jets, but Wright Electric expects this to be fine for the short flights that they will be starting with.  Wright Electric is planning to perform ground tests of its motors in 2021 and flight tests in 2023.  They are hoping to have the airplane on the market by 2030.

5 Comments
Categories : Air Quality, Airlines, Aviation, Energy, Engineering, Enviornmental, Sustainable, Transportation

Dustin McBride – Zambikes

Posted by bidelspachcr20 
· Saturday, September 12th, 2020 
· 2 Comments

After a mission trip to Zambia, millennial entrepreneur, Dustin McBride, began brainstorming ways to meet a few critical needs that he experienced there: access to transportation as well as sustainable employment. This eventually lead to the formation of Zambikes, a company that builds and sells bikes in Lusaka, Zambia. This company meets the needs of many Zambians by providing job opportunities in an environment that encourages financial and personal development and by providing greater access to one of the most affordable and practical mode of transportation in Zambia.

McBride is driven by his love for God and his desire to serve Him by meeting the needs of others. This passion, along with the many entrepreneurial traits he displays, has allowed his company to be successful. McBride began by identifying a problem that Zambians were facing, and then addressing the problem in a way that appealed to the people’s needs. Then he took an idea that was already established and started innovating to develop new ideas. He noticed that the most common form of transportation among Zambians were bikes, because very few could afford cars. However, bikes were also in limited supply and many families did not have access to bikes. In addition, there was a great need for ways to transport goods to and from the market to sell, as well as ways to transport sick people to and from the medical center. With this in mind, McBride developed two bike attachments to meet these needs. One was a cart designed to haul goods and the other was a cart designed to carry people to and from the medical center. This is a great example of innovating a current product to better meet the needs of the people.

McBride is a unique example of an entrepreneur because he is not only in the business of improving a product, he is also in the business of improving lives. Zambikes improves the quality of life for Zambians by providing transportation that is less time consuming that walking, which allows them to be more productive with their time. It also allows for more direct access to health care by providing quick and safe transport. Most importantly, Zambikes provides vital employment opportunities to the community that go far beyond earning a respectable wage. The company empowers their employees by providing them with skills training, opportunities for advancement, an environment that encourages personal development as well as spiritual growth, and the ability to create sustainable businesses themselves. Zambikes is truly changing Africa one bike at a time!

Sources:

https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/dustin-mcbride

https://www.facebook.com/zambikes/

2 Comments
Categories : Africa, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, Sustainable, Transportation, Uncategorized

Travis Kalanick & Garrrett Camp – Uber

Posted by Joseph Colosimo 
· Tuesday, December 3rd, 2019 
· 2 Comments

The story of how Uber came to be all started on a winter night when the pair was attending a conference and could not get a cab to get back to the hotel.  Initially, they thought of a time-share limo service that could be ordered via an app.  They did not act on the idea, but when Camp returned to San Francisco he bought the domain name ubercab.com.  Camp experimented with the idea with prototypes and eventually persuaded Kalanick to come back and help him.

The official launch came in May of 2010 in San Francisco.  The user would order a ride to pick them up at a select location at a select time on the Uber app.  The ease and simplicity of the process led to a quick rise in popularity. Today, Uber is still the leading service in cab services, but Lyft has emerged as a big competitor.

I recently used Uber for the first time, and was very impressed with how easy and efficient the service works.  As nice as it is for those looking to get a ride, it has also created a lot of jobs for people looking to become an Uber driver.  It is not super hard to get certified, and can be a good side job if you live near a big city.

2 Comments
Categories : Transportation

Bird is the Word

Posted by Meredith Basham 
· Sunday, November 17th, 2019 
· 4 Comments

Travis VanderZanden was born to improve public transportation which he is now revolutionizing through the foundation of Bird-a company that rents electric scooters in cities through an app. Growing up in a single mother home, he often went with his mom to work which in his case was the bus stop. She was a Valley Transit bus driver in Appleton, Wisconson for over 30 years. It was during those times riding on her bus that VanderZanden first identified problems with the wait time, traffic, parking, and so on in the transportation realm.

Although the roots of his most recent innovation were planted very early on, there were many steps in between then and his foundation of Bird. Always possessing the determination and drive to succeed, VanderZanden worked hard for his education, started a couple short-lived companies, and made it high up in the rankings of other businesses before his big breakthrough with Bird in 2016. His first two startup attempts were QikCom (2008), an enterprise communication app, then Cherry, a car-wash app he started in 2011. Cherry was bought by Lyft where he took his turn as COO. After a fallout, VanderZanden was picked up by their rival, Uber, as Vice President of Driver Growth. After a twisted mess of lawsuits between the companies over his switch, Vanderzanden left in 2016-the year his breakthrough idea came about.

Travis VanderZanden (founder) riding a Bird

Planted by childhood experiences with his mother, the idea of Bird culminated with another family experience when his daughters wanted to keep riding their scooters even after receiving bikes for Christmas. This struck him with the idea of scooters for adults which snowballed into Bird. VanderZanden’s whole goal with Bird and whatever he has in store for the future is centered around minimizing the number of cars on the road and making public transportation more accessible. Bird is so revolutionary it has shaken cities and rattled local governments as they react to this radical change in travel which the laws of the road were not prepared for. Bird certainly has obstacles to overcome with educating the public and ensuring safety, but this is to be expected with such a major innovation. This endeavor has incredible potential shown by the annual revenue at upwards of $100 million within the first 14 months-a faster takeoff than even Airbnb and Uber!

4 Comments
Categories : App, Transportation, Uncategorized
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