BoilerGo!

Smart, secure, and sustainable ridesharing for Purdue.

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Inspiration

At Purdue, many students face the same challenge, traveling to nearby cities such as Indianapolis or Chicago, other college campuses, and even places in west lafayette. Unfortunately, the current options are often inefficient. Rideshare services like Uber and Lyft quickly become cost-prohibitive, while public transportation can take too long or be inconvenient. At the same time, dozens of students are making similar trips, yet there is no fully trusted, peer-reviewed system for safely coordinating rides.

What it does

PurduePool is a secure web application that provides a peer-to-peer carpooling platform exclusively for students and staff. Students can find other peers going to the same location as them with available seats in their cars, drivers can pick up some extra money on the way, and both parties have trust in their safety. A driver posts their starting point, destination, and time of departure and riders can find all rides posted on the website and choose a ride based on their needs.

How we built it

Challenges we ran into

  • Debugging our code so it works efficiently
  • Designing a trustworthy system where students feel safe sharing rides.
  • Google maps integration: API Complexity API Key Setup Map Loading - Handling asynchronous map initialization
  • Balancing a simple and usable user interface with multiple features.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Built a ride-share platform tailored to the Purdue community and created a system that is community driven
  • Designed interactive features like COâ‚‚ saved, user ratings, and task completion to encourage engagement.

What we learned

  • Debugging strategies
  • Breaking down large scale problems into manageable pieces
  • API integration
  • Built on our HTML, JS, and CSS Knowledge
  • Beginner-level FireBase proficiency for scaleable backends

What's next for Purdue Pool

  • Building a mobile app version for easier on-the-go access.
  • Adding AI-powered ride matching to suggest optimal carpools.
  • Make it accessible for colleges around the nation and then try to make it global
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