From his small seaside office — near a sushi restaurant and a bikini shop inCardiff — Pete Tenereillo steers a booming business that has found a sweet spot among lead-foots.
The veteran entrepreneur is the creator of Trapster, a popular smart-phone application that alerts motorists to real-time road hazards, police checkpoints and red-light cameras.
His company claims 6.4 million users worldwide, with an additional 15,000 to 50,000 added each day. The tool has a reputation within the telecommunications industry as one of the best navigation apps available for the iPhone, BlackBerryand other latest-generation mobile devices.
Not bad for an idea he cooked up in 2003 as way to marry his love for gadgets and gearboxes.
“I’m a car geek,” he says.
Tenereillo, 48, is trying to position the privately owned business as a sort ofFacebook on wheels. The free app relies on users to post real-time information on speed enforcement points, traffic snarls and other road conditions.
“It’s users helping users, drivers helping drivers,” he says. “We’re trying to build the world’s largest drivers’ social network.”
Maps on their GPS-enabled phones show the latest conditions — there’s a construction zone, there’s a police checkpoint, there’s a spot where another Trapster user has reported a road hazard.
Motorists can also set up Trapster to speak to them, choosing from several voices that include a “proper Brit” and a “mountaineer.”
Tenereillo’s company, Trapster.com , says 16,700 people in San Diego used the app in May, reporting 1,620 speed traps, accidents and other events.
One of the most popular features is the ability to track law enforcement activity, including the location of red-light cameras or where a patrol car has just been spotted ticketing motorists.
Tenereillo disagrees with those who might say his product makes it easier for drivers to skirt the law. If anything, he believes, it makes them more law-abiding.
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