Of the 32,675 Americans killed in motor-vehicle crashes in 2014, just under 10 percent?3179?died in accidents attributed to distracted driving. Smartphones, vehicle multimedia systems, and a host of other stimuli regularly draw drivers’ attention. Attempting to help their customers stay focused on the road, automakers are adding and expanding the availability of features such as steering-wheel-mounted controls, Bluetooth, voice commands, head-up displays, and more. Still, not every car or truck comes equipped with all of these features. That’s where Navdy steps in.
Navdy is an aftermarket head-up-display system that mounts to your car or truck’s dashboard. Information from the vehicle’s onboard diagnostic port, such as vehicle speed, engine speed, and fuel level, is fed to the display, projecting data in an area in an area about 3.5 inches wide within the driver’s line of sight.
Putting the Nav in Navdy
At $799, Navdy isn’t cheap. Still, the company, which only began shipping units to customers a few months ago, is clearly on to something. It has managed to raise almost $27 million in four rounds of funding, according to Crunchbase. Even more telling: The first investment that vehicle electronics supplier Harman made after being acquired by Samsung was in Navdy.
To make the most of Navdy, you’ll need to connect your smartphone to the unit via Bluetooth and download the Navdy app on either Google Play or the Apple App Store, as ...