Pacenotes - Case Study

Pacenotes has been developed in conjuction with Trak Global Group, the DVSA and Highways England to provide an App for learner drivers to track their progress alongside their driving instructor. The app gives feedback on the amount of driving accomplished alongside the types of roads driven on, routes taken and weather conditions experienced. Using this data from the app new drivers are able to demonstrate their experience in driving in varied conditions. Users are able to receive a significant discount on their first year’s car insurance. The app is also targeted to improve new driver safety and reduce first year collisions.

The Challenge

We needed to create modern and user friendly app given the young target audience whilst also providing accurate measurement of the diverse conditions experienced during learner driver lessons. The data also had to be accessible to a third party (the driving instructor) while giving insurance providers confidence in the accuracy of the logged data.

We also wanted this to be available to as many users as possible so we had to decide carefully how we were going to build and deploy the app.

The final challenge was that Trak and Indiespring’s development teams were to work in tandem on the project. We needed to ensure this collaboration was handled smoothly to guarantee timely delivery of the overall project and to efficiently use the technical expertise on both teams.

Our Solutions

Our experienced User Interface team began by looking into other on the road apps to compile a list of features and design elements necessary to the app’s success and usability. Working with Trak’s Telematics team we were able to come to agreement on a number of key features.

Cross-team collaboration with onsite work stations in each company’s offices and weekly sprint meetings kept the project delivery on time and provided flexibility around the different resources available from both teams.

Building the App in Xamarin allowed us to deploy the the App to both the iOS and Android ecosystems with very little extraneous development time. Our specialist knowledge in producing apps in a cross-platform development environment allowed us to set realistic timeframes and goals.

Wireframing and Design

The first task in the project was to get the designs right so that the target audience would engage with the app and find it easy to log their journeys. This data needed to be saved ready to be accessed again at a later date. We developed a detailed set of designs showcasing the two pathways the app needed to be able to support depending on the user. The app was developed with the Trak Global branding guidelines firmly in mind but with a user-centric design philosophy throughout.

Playback Workshop

With this App being a joint venture the design phase went through several iterations with different stakeholders having views on necessary features. James led the workshops to bring together these differing viewpoints in order to ensure the app provided a best-in-class user experience without losing core functionality as defined by the key stakeholders.

Prototyping and Testing

Our Quality Assurance team took the prototypes created by the developers out on the roads and gave daily feedback on functionality and usability. This lead to tweaks in the specification during the development of the project and was managed between the teams at the weekly sprint meetings.

Collaboration

With Pacenotes being a joint venture between Indiespring and Trak Global and also being sponsored by the Highways England and DVSA it is a great example of Indiespring’s partnership program. The ability to adapt and move quickly has been key in delivering the app to often fluid specification and this would have been very difficult in a conventional agency model. Pacenotes has also been able to benefit from Indiespring’s Mobile Assurance Program to ensure the app’s stability moving forward as well as our close collaboration to ensure Trak’s many years of experience in the field of Telematics were fully utilised.

What we delivered

Pacenotes has delivered all of the key objectives set out and was delivered seamlessly between the two teams working on the project. The app allows learner drivers, driving instructors and insurance companies to see the progress of each individual’s driving and is anticipated to reduce first-year collisions in line with Highways England’s expectations.

• Accurate lesson recordings across several different scenarios
• Driving Instructor portal for tracking
• User Friendly App for all types of Users
• Evidence based learning provided to Insurers

Results

On average Pacenotes program saves learner drivers £200+ on their insurance quote.

The app program produces demonstrably better drivers after they have passed.

A single point for learners, instructors and insurers to keep track on the progress made by individual learner drivers.