‘YayoCar’ elderly car-pooling scheme wins HackforGood Award
‘YayoCar’ elderly car-pooling scheme wins HackforGood Award
A NON-PROFIT car-pooling initiative modelled on BlaBlaCar has won the HackforGood 2019 Award in Cáceres, presented by the University of Extremadura (UEX).
YayoCar is an application that allows the elderly to contract shared transport to get themselves to medical appointments, and has won its developer, Francisco Javier Rojo Martín, the €1,000 prize pot.
The system, whose name translates as ‘GrandpaCar’, allows users from different locations to synchronise their trips in line with their scheduled appointment times, and is provided by volunteers.
As well as covering a growing social need, YayoCar aims to help the elderly meet other people of their age group to combat the isolation and feelings of loneliness that senior citizens, especially those living in rural areas, often suffer if they live alone.
Candidates in the HackforGood Awards are students in their third and fourth years of degrees at 10 universities across Spain, mostly IT engineering undergraduates, who were asked to use technology to help resolve social challenges.
Some of the ideas included ‘smart’ loudspeakers to remind senior citizens to take their medication, and systems to help them find the right appointment room in hospitals.
The awards were organised by the Telefónica Faculty at UEX and held over March 21, 22 and 23 at the university itself and at Cáceres Polytechnic.
