Lightfoot – making our roads safer, cleaner and less expensive by rewarding better drivers

Lightfoot is an award-winning, government-supported technology that is helping to make our roads safer, our environment cleaner and our motoring less expensive.

Lightfoot rewards better drivers and is the world’s first platform to help them monetise their good driving.

It has two core components:

1). A small device that communicates directly with the vehicle’s engine and provides the driver with visual and verbal feedback to enable them to stay within the engine’s ‘sweet spot’ (optimum efficiency).

2). An exciting rewards platform that enables drivers to benefit personally from better driving (whether at work or at home) through competitions, prizes, discounts and other incentives.

Drivers using Lightfoot typically see:

• Fuel costs down by up to 20%
• Accidents down by up to 60%
• Wear and tear costs down by 40-50%
• Harmful emissions down by 15-20%

“In my opinion Lightfoot is brilliant… It has a true, accurate and instant effect on the driver and it encourages better driver behaviour, empowering them to make their own decisions.” – Steve Love, National Driver Development Manager, Alliance Healthcare

What is Lightfoot?

Described by many as the ‘Fitbit for cars’, Lightfoot has pioneered a new standard and way of measuring efficient driving. It has been developed in partnership with the Institute of Advanced Motorists and leading driver-behaviour experts at Bath University. It uses advanced, real-time engine analytics to provide live, in-cab coaching to help drivers improve both efficiency and safety – and then get rewarded for it.

Every driver with Lightfoot has a score and when they stray outside of the engine’s ‘sweet spot’, they receive a nudge to guide them back into a smoother driving style. If they ignore the first two gentle nudges they receive from Lightfoot, they are issued with a Lightfoot penalty, which affects their score negatively. Those who achieve a score of 85% and above are Elite Drivers, and receive a range of rewards and the chance to win prizes for their good driving.

As a rule, without Lightfoot’s help to understand how the vehicle wants to be driven, only 3% of people actually achieve Elite Driver status. However, with Lightfoot 60% of people reach Elite Driver status and are able to remain there, and 97% of people achieve Elite Driver status at some point.

What are the benefits?

• A rapid and measurable improvement in driving styles
• Improved welfare and safety of drivers
• Changes sustained over time because of ongoing in cab engagement
• Minimal management input required – Lightfoot gives results, not lots of data
• Fuel and emissions savings of 15-20%
• Accident reductions of up to 60% (validated by Allianz Insurance Plc)
• Tracking, driver ID, business v personal mileage all available and easy to use
• Reduced wear and tear on vehicles (downtime reduced by 45% - Ian Thorn, CEF)

So, how does Lightfoot work?

Lightfoot’s effectiveness comes through the use of three basic components. In order to bring about genuine, lasting behavioural change, it uses a unique combination of:

• Technology – Lightfoot communicates with the engine via the on-board diagnostics port and constantly measures how efficiently it is being driven.
• Psychology – Lightfoot gives the driver real-time verbal and visual nudges exactly when they need to adjust their driving style
• Motivation – Lightfoot turns efficient driving into a competition with scores, league tables, incentives and rewards for better driving

The result:

Lightfoot users drive more smoothly, meaning they save fuel, cut dangerous emissions, lower maintenance costs and significantly reduce their risk of having an accident on the road.

Rewarding better drivers

Lightfoot has pioneered the idea of ‘Rewarding Better Drivers’ and believes good driving needs to be recognised and championed. After all, the more good drivers we have, the cleaner and safer our roads will become for everyone.

So, while the Lightfoot technology provides the real-time feedback drivers need to improve their driving style, it is the rewards platform that motivates them to do so in the first place, and then sustains their interest long term.

Lightfoot Elite Drivers are eligible for rewards and incentives. Every week Elite Drivers win prizes such as supercar trackdays, ipads, weekend breaks or a year’s supply of pies. There is a rapidly expanding network of partners offering rewards and special deals, including Admiral insurance who provide discounted preimums for Lightfoot’s Elite Drivers.

Lightfoot is also actively lobbying policy makers to get better driving recognised and rewarded in the same way more efficient engine types currently are. For example, why shouldn’t a Lightfoot Elite Driver get a reduced road tax (VED) or congestion charge?

Lightfoot Fleet Driver of the Week…

As part of the broader commitment to rewarding better drivers, Lightfoot offers fleet drivers exciting incentives to motivate them to achieve and maintain a smooth driving style. A key component of this is the recently-launched Lightfoot Fleet Driver of the Week award.

Every fleet driver who hits their company KPIs is entered into a draw each week and the winning driver receives a prize, sponsored by Allianz Insurance Plc.

Lightfoot Fleet Driver of the Week has been very popular with drivers and management alike since its launch in February this year, giving fleet drivers further incentives to hit their company KPIs. So far, prizes have ranged from gadgets like the Amazon Echo to experiences such as supercar track days.

Beyond the fleet – Lightfoot for private motorists

Lightfoot has successfully conducted a pilot programme with 100 private. The key results of the pilot were:

• Every single driver was better with Lightfoot
• 3% of people were Elite Drivers before Lightfoot, 60% of people were Elite Drivers with Lightfoot
• Fuel economy increased 10-20%
• Collectively, the pilot drivers saved 1 tonne of CO2 a week
• Women were better than men
• But men improved more than women

Because of this success, Lightfoot will be launching a consumer version of the product later this year, and is working with leading names to offer drivers a wide range of exciting rewards and incentives. These will be available to all Lightfoot drivers, whether private motorists or fleet drivers – after all, if you drive safely and efficiently, why shouldn’t you be rewarded for it?

This means that private motorists and fleet drivers alike will be able use their Lightfoot score to receive discounts – whether on insurance (fleet drivers will even get a discount on their premium when insuring their private vehicle), vehicle maintenance, food, drink, fuel and more.

Insurer endorsement

Lightfoot is recommended and endorsed by a number of leading fleet insurers including Allianz, Axa, QBE and RSA.

For example, Allianz Insurance recognise that Lightfoot has a significant impact on accident rates. They recorded a 40% reduction in claims frequency and a 60% reduction in claims value in fleets of vehicles with Lightfoot installed. In 2016, they designated Lightfoot as their official Risk Management Partner, and they even mandate it on many of their high-risk fleets (with no financial incentive from Lightfoot).

Allianz currently sponsor Lightfoot’s Fleet Driver of the week with other Insurers looking at sponsoring this league and individual leagues for their own clients.

Media coverage

Lightfoot has started to receive a lot of media attention as a potential solution to major issues like air pollution. For example, BBC World Hacks recently ran a feature on Lightfoot that was:

• #1 "most watched" video on the BBC News homepage
• Viewed in over 200 countries worldwide
• Viewed over 350,000 times on the BBC's Facebook page
• Viewed over 250,000 times on the BBC News website

Along with this amazing coverage, Lightfoot has also been featured on ITV News, BBC Spotlight and numerous radio stations following the significant government grant awarded for the further development of the technology.

Recommendations for Lightfoot

“Lightfoot has virtually eliminated accidents” – David Phillips, Group Logistics Director, HSS Hire

“We’re helping our drivers be safe and saving on fuel across the fleet, all with little management intervention. Overall Lightfoot gives us a very good rate of return on our investment.” – Mark Karkeek, Fleet Manager, South West Water

“Since partnering with Lightfoot in 2015, we have seen at first hand that their technology has a positive effect in reducing fleet customer claims.” – Jonathan Dye, Head of Motor Insurance, Allianz Insurance Plc

“It is extremely refreshing to work with Lightfoot – a company that deem service levels to be so important. Nothing is too much trouble and they are extremely flexible and helpful.” – Sharon Beets, Supplier Relationship Manager, Polygon

“Downtime had decreased from 2.01 days in early 2015 to 1.11 days towards the end of last year – this equated to a 45% reduction in downtime.” - Ian Thorn, City Electrical Factors