Mobile tool aids driver training
App’s virtual reality helps with coaching
The worst time to learn you must check your car’s blind spot is when you’re driving — so now there’s an app for that.
Aceable, an Austin, Texas-based mobile education platform, announced its driver’s education app was approved Monday for use in Pennsylvania.
Now, animated virtual reality videos can demonstrate how to check a blind spot, parallel park or analyze an intersection along with lessons that allow teens to make progress on their theory course anywhere.
Aceable joins several other state-approved online-first driver’s education platforms, yet another option among theory courses offered in the digital world. While there are more options on the internet and in the app store, none of them are mandatory.
That’s because teen drivers in Pennsylvania can obtain their learner’s permit at age 16, without formal classroom education. The potential driver must obtain a copy of the Pennsylvania Driver’s manual, study it, and pass the knowledge exam to earn a learner’s permit. After completing 65 hours of behind-the-wheel practice, teens may take their test to earn a junior license — all sans theory courses.
However, there is an option to apply for an unrestricted senior license before age 18 that allows the teen to drive during the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. if they have completed 30 hours of driver’s education, along with six professional driving hours.
Enter Aceable’s quirky, robotic instructor that cracks jokes while guiding students through the basics of driver’s theory and coaches them through Aceable’s 360-degree animated virtual reality courses. Through the app’s story-like
lessons, students may fulfill the theory requirements needed for a senior license.
“There’s still about 12,000 students that take driver’s ed in Pennsylvania each year,” said Blake Garrett, CEO and founder of Aceable. “I hope they see more value in it than just checking the box ... as you’re giving a teen the ability to control a [4,000] pound box.”
Those teens are increasingly fulfilling their senior license theory requirements in the state with online resources, but those cannot be used alone, said Timothy Rogers, president of Rogers School of Driving, Inc., a private driver’s education program on McKnight Road in Ross.
“All online programs have to be approved by the state and sponsored by a driving school in the state,” he said.
The school vets a student’s certified completion and sends relevant paperwork on to the Harrisburg bureau of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
Still, that’s a relationship between the driving school and the app or online course, Mr. Rogers said. The student is not responsible for coordination between the two.
Rogers School of Driving currently uses Driver Ed To Go, an internet-based platform, as its online partner. It costs $95.
Mr. Rogers estimates that there are up to 10 state-approved online driver’s education courses, including another from DriversEd.com, which costs $99. Aceable’s course costs $80.
“I personally like the live class because it’s more interactive and you also know that the student is there and is participating,” Mr. Rogers said. “But the online service works in the student’s schedule better and it’s much cheaper.”
Although most high schools in urban areas have eliminated theory courses due to high expenses, Mr. Rogers said, some may partner with private driving schools to provide afterschool learning opportunities.
And, in areas where that is unavailable, some parents still send their children to a driving school because they prefer the live experience. “It’s rare, but it does happen,” Mr. Rogers said.
Live classroom instruction from Rogers School of Driving costs $150.
Aceable is not a far cry from other online resources on the market, Mr. Rogers said.
“It can be helpful for students that don’t have access to a theory class,” he said, “but it’s just different content ... it may be more humorous and in an app format, but it’s the same idea.”
Still, Aceable’s Mr. Garrett believes there’s a significant market to capture.
“We have not seen any of our competitors in the space move to mobile,” Mr. Garrett said. “No one is doing 360-degree video. It’s a pretty antiquated industry.”
Mr. Garrett notes that virtual reality experiences may lock in a teen’s attention. But, that’s a small fraction of the app’s content — there are three virtual reality videos that clock in at under five minutes of content.
Right now, Aceable’s drivers’ education app is available in seven states and about 500,000 teens have used it since its launch in Texas three years ago, Mr. Garrett said.
Aceable, which has a staff of 76, has received at least $8.7 million in seed and series A funding from venture capital firms like Palo Alto, Calif.based Floodgate and Austin, Texas-based Silverton Partners, according to business information platform Crunchbase.