AtoZee

AtoZee: The EZ Street

-Inspiration

A year and nine months ago from today, I moved to New Cumberland, PA to finish my computer science degree at Penn State. Coming from Altoona, PA, it was a big change—and the biggest of them all was driving. I was a new driver, and the first time I got on a highway was the day I moved to New Cumberland: a two-hour drive that took us four hours due to my anxiety and inexperience as a new driver. Not to mention I had previously been in a car accident only a few months prior, contributing to my road anxiety. My family, including my dear brother Marvin, were very worried about me. I managed to overcome it with many learning curves and tests—however, what if there was a way to "ease" people into driving better? Meet AtoZee—the EZ street. An easier way forward.

-What it does

AtoZee helps new and anxious drivers find routes that fit their comfort and schedule. It compares traffic, arrival times, and road features—like highways, merges, bridges, and roundabouts—and explains the tradeoffs, with optional calming voice reminders.

-How we built it

We started by brainstorming ideas and mapping them out into flow charts, which helped us turn a fairly abstract concept into a concrete plan of features and screens. From there, we generated base code and then went in to fix and refine it using Kiro and ChatGPT—iterating on what the tools produced until it actually worked the way we intended.

-Challenges we ran into

We had an issue where our code kept buttons disabled until variables became true, and our buttons were unresponsive to the user's clicks. When it did become responsive, we realized there was no animation to display whether or not it was clicked, so we had to implement that so users know they made their choice for sure.

-Accomplishments that we're proud of

This is my first coding project, and something I am very passionate about. I think for the first time I engaged myself fully into a coding project—it wasn't a typical homework assignment or something pre-made, it's an idea that helps to solve something very real that I've experienced first-hand.

-What we learned

I learned that there are a lot more moving pieces to innovation and implementing different features than I faced. AI can help streamline the process; however, there are many bugs that it doesn't catch that we have to go in to fix. I learned more about React, such as hydration and connecting click handlers so pressing buttons actually does what it's intended to.

-What's next for AtoZee

For AtoZee, we want to integrate it more with maps, giving it more of a live traffic feed, taking into account the busiest times and routes. We also want to pull historical and regional data for motor vehicle accidents, including fatal ones, giving users the option to avoid those areas if chosen. Additionally, we want driving focus implemented more heavily into it so as not to distract already distracted anxious drivers further.