By Syed Razvi
A Ryerson graduate and his colleague invented an app called Wheelz that could make learning to drive cheaper for students.
Created by Arseniy Nikulchenko, a former Ryerson computer science student, and Andrey Alchin, a Schulich School of Business grad, Wheelz is a driving school app that lets users summon drivers to their preferred locations and start classes on-the-go.
“It could be an Audi, a Mustang, you can claim any car at any time,” said Nikulchenko, 26. “The regular driving school would have you sign papers, you would end up with a 1999 Corolla type of car and what’s worse, they overwork the drivers.”
Wheelz classes start at 30-minutes long and go up to an hour in length. Hourly they cost $30 with a certified instructor and $25 with a non-certified one.
Alchin said that if the ratings for a certain instructor are good, that instructor will be more expensive in the future.
The development of Wheelz started half a year ago after Alchin had inconvenient driving school experiences.
There are not many expenses in operating the app, said Alchin. The team received a grant from Microsoft for about $150,000. About 15-19 per cent of that goes to Nikulchenko and Alchin. The rest goes to the drivers.
Currently, Wheelz is only available on iOS to users who are invited to download it, but Alchin said the app should be available for all iOS and Android users in mid-February.
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