Out of disaster comes relief.
But, first, we need a little background. As opposed to the feelings that exist across the USA, hitchhiking in Israel is a lot more common. (It is even more common in Israel than it was here in the states during the 1950s and 1960s.)
That doesn’t mean hitchhiking is a perfect process. About 5 years ago, a few Israeli teenagers attempted to hitch a ride home. Except, the car they entered was one belonging to a terrorist cell. And, once the kids realized their problem, they called for help. However, the authorities missed the boat completely- and the boys were killed.
That was the driving force behind the efforts of Amotz Koskas, Alex Rivlin, and Dror Matalon. They conceived an app in 2015 that they thought would effectively solve the problem of the hitchhikers (and then some). The app they developed sends out a message (complete with location information) to let authorities rapidly assess and respond to an emergency situation.
Part of their funding came from an organization with which I have been associated for a long time- the BIRD Foundation.
The BIRD Foundation is the Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation. (Israel and the US are the two countries in “binational’). BIRD promotes interactions between US and Israeli entities without demanding equity or IP rights in the developing technology, and is willing to provide up to 50% of the approved project’s budget. Sayvu (the firm that is involved with this app) was partnered with Opto Knowledge Systems (Torrance, CA) to help complete the development in June 2016.
That app now works with smart phones and Google Play. SayVU has installed its platform in the US, Israel, and Latin America, as a “safe city project”.
Think of it as a graphical 911/511/311 system. 
I’m thinking of the man who made the news the other day, having fallen off a cliff and his Apple Watch automatically called 911. But if he had been unconscious, then what would have happened? Or if it was an active shooter situation where someone was too scared to talk, in fear of giving away his/her location? This sounds like an app with a lot of promise.
I didn’t know of the first situation and hadn’t considered the second. Great addition to the conversation, Alana! Thanks.
This Help app sounda very useful.Hitchhiking has a lot of issues and the example you narrated makes worries more real.
I guess I am somewhat less excited because I never have location services engaged on my phone, Dr. A.
What a great idea! It’s a scary world out there, hopefully this app will allow more people to get home safely.
Let’s hope, Martha!