Lightfoot wins Government funding for green driving initiative

Date: Friday, April 21, 2017 | Author: James Dallas

Driver training technology firm Lightfoot has secured £1.8m Government funding to further develop its in-cab device that uses real-time verbal and visual coaching to encourage safer and more economical driving styles.

The announcement follows on from the launch of the ‘Lightfoot Fleet Driver of the Week’ scheme in February, which rewards with prizes the most efficient and careful of the claimed 10,000 plus drivers using Lightfoot. Three quarters of those who are eligible to sign-up to the programme are van drivers,

Awarded by Government agency Innovate UK, Lightfoot said the grant is part of the Government’s commitment to invest in connected vehicle technology.

The firm said it would use the grant, which becomes available from 1 May, to deliver its so-called “Driver Ecosystem” to a wider range of businesses across sectors such as insurance, breakdown cover and vehicle finance.

Lightfoot claimed its in-cab product, which uses a green, amber and red traffic light display to indicate driving efficiency, can reduce CO2 emissions by 10 to 20%, NOx by 20% and particulates by 15%.

It said the system had also been shown to cut road accidents by 60% with a corresponding reduction in insurance claims of 75%.

A spokesman for Lightfoot said: “The Government is interested in reducing pollution and a by-product is lower insurance claims.”

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