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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 31 August 2006
Contact: Robert McYintire
TUCSON TO BE LAUNCHING PAD FOR "CAR MESSAGING"
TUCSON, Ariz - Driving in your car will never be the same.
Tucson engineer Steve Wagner has put his new company on the cutting edge, marrying the latest cell phone technology with the rapid rise of social networking on the Internet.
It's called PL8SCAN, and Tucsonans will be the first to get a taste of the innovative product.
In a nutshell, it works like this:
Using SMS-capable mobile phones, drivers can "dial-up" others on the road - using their license plate - to send a text message while stuck in traffic... you know, while you're waiting for the light to change at Speedway and Campbell, or Broadway and Kolb, or River and Oracle, or if you're simply stopped, bumper to bumper on I-10 at rush hour.
Good, bad - or simply trying to make a connection - this is a new way to have your say.
"How many times have you wanted to say something to another driver on the roadway?" Wagner said.
"For the most part, any type of car-to-car communication has been impossible. We've been relegated to crude hand signals, facial gestures and maybe - if we're lucky - a few seconds of talk time while at a stop light."
"And what about a place for singles to meet other singles? We all work in such a busy world, opening up a new communication option while driving just seemed like a great idea."
The interaction continues on the website, www.PL8SCAN.com where anybody can post comments, send messages and read what others are saying about any vehicle. No other information is available other than the license plate, unless the user signs up for the SMS service and creates a profile, just like someone would on all the popular social networking sites.
Wagner is specifically launching his service around the areas of the University of Arizona and Pima Community College, where cars, cell phones and socializing converge in perfect harmony with students who use technology with ease.
Wagner, who has lived in Tucson since 1994, is a third-generation engineer and former Marine. Within a year he hopes to hire and employ 25-plus Tucsonans in high-tech jobs as PL8SCAN grows.
Wagner has three children - aged 20, 19 and 17 - so he understands the appeal of his groundbreaking service to the Gen-Y crowd.
But he doesn't want to stop there. He wants to make PL8SCAN the "myspace of your driving space."
"The anonymity of cars sometimes allows people to behave differently than they would otherwise." Wagner said. "In some sense, what I'd really like to see happen is for people to develop a realization that all those cars around them are really just people."
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PL8SCAN offers different level of membership - with the basic package being free. There's no obligation other than agreeing to terms of use (standard for all forum-type sites). To obtain the basic membership visit www.PL8SCAN.com.
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