Former SU students create driving lesson app

Two Stellenbosch University (SU) alumni developed South Africa’s first driving lesson app that allows learner drivers across the country to find driving instructors with ease.

“The app enables NUBEE’s to browse [through] driving instructors in their area, select one according to reviews…and book a lesson up to seven days in advance,” said Bruce-Brand, co-founder of NUBEE and SU LLB graduate. The other co-founder of the app, which was launched on 9 September, is Jarryd Strydom.

Booking a lesson on the app is similar to ordering an Uber trip, Bruce-Brand added.

According to Bruce-Brand, the target market for the app ranges from 17-year-olds to 23-year-olds. This was based on the demographics of learner drivers, he said.

“This age group is particularly hungry for solutions which make their daily processes easy, secure and instant. Booking a driving lesson should be one of these cases,” said Bruce-Brand.

Much-needed for “NUBEE’s”

According to Strydom, who is also an SU LLB graduate, he had first-hand experience with the struggles associated with finding a decent driving instructor.

“Organising a lesson date and time through back and forth WhatsApp messages was tedious, especially with my busy sport and academics schedule,” he explained. 

“There was no platform where I could browse [through] instructor [options] nor was there a reliable review system,” he said.

For Strydom, who was a boarding school student when he was learning to drive, finding ATM’s and paying for lessons in cash was also inconvenient, he added.  

“Our key focus is to make booking driving lessons for students, who are already stressed and busy, as stress-free as possible,” said Bruce-Brand.

Strydom and Bruce-Brand felt that NUBEE is a much-needed solution to a commonly complained about problem.

App Features

NUBEE is also a platform providing driving instructors with an opportunity to take “their businesses to the next level”, he added.

According to Adrid Lawrence, driving instructor for NUBEE and owner of Online Driving Academy, appointments sync to driver’s and learner’s phone calendars, and payment is received instantly.

Learners are able to pay per lesson, instead of paying for a whole lot of lessons at once, which is great for the learner, said Lawrence.

Rachel Kaps, second-year BAcc LLB student at SU, was the first learner to book a lesson through NUBEE.

“Previously, booking driving lessons for me was always a massive task and something I put off because I had to find driving instructors through people…and still didn’t know if I’d get a good driving instructor,” said Kaps.

For Kaps it was beneficial to be able to see the rating of a driving instructor prior to booking, what car he drives and how far away he is before the lesson starts.

After the driving lesson, it was also great to see the trip that was driven by her, she said.

“The fact that the app is real-time adds another dimension to the app,” said Lawrence.

Covid-19 concern?

According to Bruce-Brand the app’s release is timeous regardless of the ongoing pandemic.

“It fits into the trend of processes changing rapidly with technology, and is also a safer way of learning to drive in these times,” said Bruce-Brand.

He explained that the health risks associated with cash are also negated by the app.

Additionally NUBEE instructors have strict hygiene protocols in place, Bruce-Brand added.