#StartupsEverywhere Profile: Cory Hohs, Founder & CEO, HAAS Alert
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
Creating smarter alerts for safer roads
HAAS Alert connects first responders, towing and recovery fleets, and roadway workers with vehicles and motorists through real-time digital alerts on its Safety Cloud® platform to prevent collisions and enhance road safety for everyone. We talked to Founder and CEO Cory Hohs about interconnected transportation, the technology that fuels it, and the future of roadway safety.
Tell us a bit about yourself and what led you to create HAAS Alert?
My background is in automotive, and I used to work at a company that created in-dash navigation systems. The pivotal moment that led to the creation of HAAS Alert was when I was nearly struck and killed by an ambulance on my way to work. This incident prompted us to explore how we could improve communication between emergency vehicles and connected cars.
Initially, we focused on the civilian side of the problem, but we soon realized that struck-by incidents and collisions rank as one of the the leading causes of death and injury for police, fire, and EMS personnel. We quickly learned that the problem is even larger when you factor in tow truck drivers, work zone operators, and other roadway workers and professionals. Motivated by this insight, we pivoted our efforts to develop a comprehensive solution geared towards protecting individuals and assets on the road. The concept of the “safety cloud” emerged, and we got to work on an interoperable platform that would enable those at risk to broadcast crucial information and alerts to vehicles, ultimately fostering a safer environment for everyone.
Could you provide a deeper explanation of what HAAS Alert does and how it works?
HAAS Alert's mission is to build lifesaving mobility solutions that make vehicles and roads safer and smarter. We pioneered a technology called Digital Alerting, which essentially works as an electronic version of more traditional alerting methods like lights and sirens. When an alerting vehicle or asset like an emergency vehicle or tow truck on our platform activates its emergency lights or hazard warning, Safety Cloud begins broadcasting digital alerts to approaching vehicles through direct integration with car manufacturers and navigation platforms.These messages may include crucial information like "emergency vehicle approaching" or "tow truck up ahead, please move over." In essence, we're providing real-time roadway safety information to drivers, making the road safer for everyone.
How does HAAS Alert's technology fit into the larger road safety conversation?
At HAAS Alert, we have a philosophy of prioritizing real-world solutions that solve problems rather than committing to a specific technology. When we began in 2016, everyone who wanted to send messages to cars was waiting to use dedicated spectrum, primarily utilizing the 5.9 GHz band. However, as a startup, we couldn't afford to wait for this technology to be developed, so we instead decided to deliver our alerts over already-available LTE networks.
While this wasn’t always true, cellular networks have evolved significantly and now offer lower latency and reduced variance, making them capable of handling the vast majority of basic safety messages for roadway users. There are certain safety-related use cases where low latency is critical and direct communication over dedicated spectrum might be necessary, such as pedestrian intrusion warnings at intersections, but today we can deliver a vast majority of alerts using LTE. That percentage will probably continue to increase as cellular networks continue to advance with 5G and beyond.
But the bottom line is that no matter where the future may take us, we’ll always be focused on delivering practical solutions today, leveraging existing technology and networks. We certainly have to remain open to various technologies while focusing on the fastest, safest, and most responsible way to solve roadway safety issues, but we believe in an incremental approach to deploying technology and providing immediate solutions, rather than waiting for some distant future that offers perfect conditions for a specific technological solution.
Are there areas or communities where HAAS Alert's services might be limited due to poor or no cellular service?
There are fleets in all fifty states using HAAS Alert today, from dense urban areas to mountainous and rural areas. There are certainly remote areas and regions of the country with limited cellular coverage, but the vast majority of roadways where collisions occur are located in areas with some form of cellular connectivity. We’re big advocates for initiatives expanding cellular coverage for this exact reason - because it can save lives.
There are also occasional edge cases where we face limitations, such as tunnels and other areas without sufficient connectivity. We’re hopeful that the increasing connectivity of vehicles and their adoption of these kinds of technologies will inevitably exert pressure on network carriers to expand and enhance their coverage, allowing us to serve an even broader range of communities and scenarios.
What is the future of HAAS Alert?
HAAS Alert's vision is a connected, collision-free world where everyone gets home safely, and we believe that Safety Cloud is going to play a critical role in achieving that vision. We see this platform as the dedicated cloud for transportation connectivity, serving as the central hub for real-time communication between all things on the road and enabling interoperability and communication among all the stakeholders, technologies, and standards across the transportation ecosystem. In the coming years, we anticipate HAAS Alert expanding our role in connected transportation and essentially providing a conduit of communication between vehicles, infrastructure, users, and emergent technologies like autonomous vehicles.
We know achieving this requires continuous adaptation to evolving technologies, addressing the diverse needs of communities, and prioritizing tangible solutions to real-world problems in the transportation space. Ultimately, all of our efforts towards these goals still contribute to our core mission. We just want everyone to get home safely, and that keeps us motivated every day.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
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