ATLANTA, Ga. (WRBL)—What started as a group project in class is now months away from creating more accessibility knowledge for Georgia locals. Georgia Tech senior business students Gabriel Jones and Victoria Stopford, both 22, started working on the concept for WheelChariot in 2021 as part of a business class with the goal of making a sort of Yelp specifically for accessibility information. Despite being enrolled full-time, working jobs and having no knowledge of web development, Gabriel Jones and Stopford decided to make their idea from class a reality.
“I’ve been waiting to go full-time with this and so [I’m] just kind of waiting for graduation to go through and school to be over,” Stopford, a Fayetteville, Georgia native, said.
Stopford and Gabriel Jones of Columbus, Georgia told WRBL they plan to launch the beta version of the WheelChariot website on May 1, just before graduation. As of now, they expect around 100 beta testers based on their steadily increasing sign-up rate. The testers will be able to give local businesses accessibility scores on a scale of 1 to 5 based on ramp access, noise level and staff treatment, amongst other factors.
“We’re planning to do a really big push on development this summer… and then dive into a mobile app by the end of this summer,” Gabriel Jones said. He explained the two plan to work on their project after graduation on May 6 through Georgia Tech’s Create-X startup program.
The two explained they have sunken countless hours and about $5,000 of their own money into WheelChariot and brought on Gabriel Jones’ father Ben Jones as their CTO to help create their website. Gabriel Jones and Stopford explained participating in Georgia Tech’s Sustainable-X showcase and an investment from the CEO of Fusen World Christopher Klaus has helped their cause.
Gabriel Jones explained he and Stopford originally set out with a focus on accessibility issues like wheelchair access but wanted to challenge themselves to create something which touched on other issues as well. He said accessibility for people with vision- and hearing impairment, as well as those with autism are other populations they hope to cater to with WheelChariot.
Though Stopford will continue working with Fanaticus XR and Gabriel Jones will maintain a job at TeamWRX Staffing. After graduation, the two are excited to dedicate more time to WheelChariot. Both noted maintaining their jobs, schoolwork and WheelChariot ensured prioritizing time management.
They commended Ben Jones’ efforts toward developing the website, despite working full-time as a software engineer.
“We’re balancing this as students so the time commitment has definitely been challenging, but Ben especially has really poured his heart and soul into making sure this platform is built out,” Stopford said.
The two plan to launch a final version of the WheelChariot site by July and are aiming for an app release in the beginning of 2024. Beta testing for their website begins on May 1 and will last through the month. Anyone, regardless of if they have a disability, can register to be a tester at www.wheelchariot.io with the requirement being they leave 10 reviews during May and make time to take a user survey or do a user interview at the end of the month.
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