About this project
Fenderhawk was created with one simple idea in mind: to make the roads a safer place for drivers and the cars they love. To achieve this we have crafted a camera system with smart sensors that empowers you to keep your vehicle safe, secure, and dent free - all controlled through your mobile device.
Fenderhawk is a vehicle-mounted device that contains an HD video camera and multiple sensors that track everything from motion, and directional forces, to vibration, sound, and also serves as a front and rear facing camera to help keep you, and your car safe while parked or driving.
Controlled entirely from your iPhone or Android device, Fenderhawk alerts you when it senses anything out of the ordinary — from sudden jolts that can indicate a collision, to sound and movements that could mean an intrusion. Instantly receive, view and act on the alerts wherever you are. Fenderhawk is the smartest way to safeguard your vehicle.
You define your experience with Fenderhawk. From controlling when it's armed, to adjusting the sensitivity the device, or enabling parking assist mode, Fenderhawk is designed to give you a wide feature set that you control to fit your needs.
Being away from your car doesn’t mean you can’t respond to emergencies. Fenderhawk alerts you immediately when it senses something is wrong.
Technical specifications
Camera
- Automatic video capture (customizable 15-30 seconds before and after trigger event)
- HD video resolution (1080p)
- Internal memory
- Fits over any standard USA vehicle license plate
- Built in accelerometer
- Nightvision (IR Illumination, Hidden IR LED's in frame)
- Bluetooth and 3G connectivity
- Built-in rechargeable battery, recharges while you drive (Connects to license plate light connector, switches to battery when car is off.)
- Weatherproof
Software
- iOS and Android mobile app
- Live video with sensor data
- Encryption
- Media archive
- Arm and Disarm
- Parking assist camera mode
- Privacy settings
- Download media
- Automatic temporal video stitching. ( Records before and after trigger event and creates one video file)
With Fenderhawk, the app and primary service are free, and accessible via as many phones as you’d like. That means you can download the free app, receive alerts, and see live streaming video, audio and other sensor data.
Want to store videos for longer? We will soon have an premium archive service (optional) that lets you extend your storage for a small fee.
Pick the vibrant "Cherry-red" Fenderhawk, and send a visual warning to bad drivers not to bump your car or go with the "Black hawk" color scheme that is less noticeable but equally as effective. We are also working on a "Sliver hawk" finish that is chrome. No matter what color your vehicle is, we want Fenderhawk to be a sleek, complimentary, and useful accent to your car.
Experienced designers, engineers, artists, and entrepreneurs
Fenderhawk was founded by serial entrepreneur Tav Shande in early 2015 after witnessing too many parking hit-and-runs and having multiple experiences with mysterious dents and scratches showing up on his car. The question, "Why aren't cars smart enough to tell you when they've been bumped?" is what shaped the concept of the Fenderhawk camera. For the task of creating the device he recruited the help of the talented John Teel.
As a former senior design engineer at Texas Instruments (TI) John designed dozens of successful microchips. His designs can be found in all kinds of popular electronic devices including some from Apple and Intel. You almost certainly own several products with TI microchips inside, and most likely a product or two with one of his chip designs.
Previously, John founded a startup called MicroLite Tech. Where he developed and manufactured a low-cost consumer lighting device and brought it to market in over 500 retail locations across three countries. In addition to development he also oversaw manufacturing in Asia, marketing, trade shows, logistics, financing, and sales.
We are growing
In addition to our core team, we are assembling an incredible group of engineers, designers, and industry experts who will be collaborating with us to create the best product possible.
We currently have a working prototype and we're now focused on:
- Finalizing the engineering schematics for the final product
- Developing and iterating on the user experience for the mobile app
- Developing the data visualization tools
- Power management and battery placement
We will also begin the process of:
- Designing packaging
- Product certifictions
- Designing the supply chain process
- Materials procurement
- Tooling
- Production
What does the functional prototype do?
The current prototype (Not final shape and size) shows what the Fenderhawk camera can do in security mode, taking HD video after sensing an impact and saving the footage. The video is then transferred via Bluetooth. In the four videos below John Teel shows the prototype in action:
We have been working on Fenderhawk for the past year and we've come a long way. But now we need your help. Your support will allow us to finish development and initiate tooling and manufacturing so we can make Fenderhawk available to you and the millions of people who should experience a smarter car security option. Let's make our roads safer, our cars smarter, and our commutes more connected — together.
So why should you support us?
- Be the first to get one.
- This is a game changer in car security and it connects seamlessly with your vehicle and smart-phone.
- Nothing like Fenderhawk exists on the market.
- A parking camera & security for your current car.
- Peace of mind, knowing that your car is safe.
- It will make the roads safer and reduce hit & runs.
Risks and challenges
Building a new kind of automotive camera is a complex and time-consuming task. We aknowledge the challenge and recognize there are many pieces that will need to come together for it to work. One such thing is, obviously, financial and only with help from Kickstarter will we be able to get to production of the first Fenderhawk Camera.
Getting to the point where we can ship the final camera to your door from the where we are at now, involves the following:
1) Getting the Hardware, software design, and construction ready for production. All the components must fit together perfectly. There is so much to take into account when finishing this up. Fortunately, we have the experience of John Teel, President of Teel Engineering. He was formerly a senior design engineer for Texas Instruments where he created electronic designs now used in millions of portable devices (including some from Apple). He is also a successful entrepreneur who developed his own product, had it manufactured in Asia, and sold in over 500 retail locations in three countries.
2) Fitting the electronics into such a small weather-resisant frame. This is no small feat. We have a functioning prototype with all the components in place. We are adding talented camera and battery specialist to our engineering team to find the best method to keep the form factor slim and power the device efficiently.
3) Setting up a logistics and quality assured manufacturing chain. In every step of the production, our manufacturers need to have strict guidelines and tests to sort out the good units from the bad as early as possible. To assist us with this, we are leveraging the knowledge of professionals that have done this over and over for many shipped products before.
4) Getting all the pieces of the firmware in place and working without problems. There is a difference between having a functioning prototype recording and transmitting HD video (which we have working) and having it function properly in all conditions out in the field. Again, our team members have built both hardware and firmware for shipped products, we will rely on their expertise.
We recognize these challenges and we are taking them seriously. We are adamant in overcoming any issues that arise. We are committed to getting the Fenderhawk camera into the market and we have all the skills necessary to do so. With the help from the Kickstarter community we can have the resources to move into production while also completing all of the above tasks.
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Funding period
- (38 days)