Solone

Inspiration

Every solo traveler knows the feeling — that pull toward the open road, the dream of starry nights and self-discovery. Yet for millions of women, first-time adventurers, and budget explorers, that dream stalls before it starts. Safety fears, scattered information, and the sheer overwhelm of planning alone are the invisible walls that trap wanderlust. We were inspired by a simple but radical question: what if solo travel felt as safe and effortless as it should feel free? Solone was born from that question — and from our own experiences as young women navigating travel in India.

What it does

Solone is an AI-powered solo travel companion with four core pillars:

• AI Route Optimization — ML algorithms analyze thousands of reviews, ratings, and travel times to generate personalized itineraries based on your interests (spiritual, adventure, nightlife, culture) and budget.
• So-Net: Traveler Connect — Discover nearby SOLONE users for spontaneous companionship, turning solo into social — on your own terms.
• So-Eco: Smart Spending — Real-time price comparison across cabs, autos, bikes, hotels, and packages so you travel smarter and save big.
• So-Safe: Your Guardian — SOS alerts, GPS location tracking, emergency response, and a dedicated Pink Mode that uses computer vision and location data to filter unsafe routes and accommodations for women travelers.

How I built it

We designed the full product experience as a high-fidelity Figma prototype (live here), covering user onboarding, the AI itinerary builder, So-Net's traveler matching interface, So-Eco's price dashboard, and So-Safe's emergency panel. The AI architecture draws on aggregated data from Google and TripAdvisor reviews, real-time pricing APIs, safety databases, and GPS location feeds. The ML pipeline handles route optimization, predictive personalization, and real-time price analytics — with a continuous learning loop that improves recommendations based on user behavior.

Challenges I ran into

The hardest design challenge was balancing connection with autonomy — solo travelers don't want to be forced into group dynamics, but they also don't want isolation. Getting So-Net's opt-in social layer right required rethinking our assumptions entirely. On the technical side, integrating real-time price aggregation across fragmented transport and hospitality APIs while keeping the experience lightweight was a significant architecture challenge. Designing Pink Mode responsibly — safety-enhancing without being fear-amplifying — required careful iteration.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

We're proud of Pink Mode most of all — a feature that treats women's safety not as a checkbox but as a first-class design priority, using CV and location intelligence to proactively filter risk rather than just react to it. We're also proud of the unified four-pillar architecture: most travel tools solve one problem in isolation, but Solone weaves safety, savings, social connection, and smart routing into a single seamless experience. Building a working, navigable prototype that communicates the full journey flow — from input to real-time monitoring to continuous learning — felt like a real achievement.

What I learned

We learned that solo ≠ alone. The biggest insight driving Solone's design was that solo travelers crave control over connection, not forced solitude. We also learned that safety features only have value when they're trusted — which means transparency, clear permissions, and design that never feels surveillance-like. On the product side, this project taught us how to move from a problem space (fragmented travel tools) to a unified design principle: a companion that protects freedom while eliminating fear.

What's next for Solone

• Pilot launch in Delhi NCR with 500 beta users across popular solo routes — Rishikesh, Manali, and Jaipur
• Expand to 20 Indian cities with local language support and tourism board partnerships
• Group trip planning mode for travelers who want to transition from solo to shared adventures
• AR navigation for immersive, eyes-up exploration
• Offline mode for remote and low-connectivity areas
• Blockchain-verified safety ratings for tamper-proof community trust
• International expansion — bringing Solone's safety-first solo travel model to the global stage

Built With

• figma
• google-maps