Have you ever felt anxious about leaving your car for a few hours? Worry no further as now technology is here to help. If something abnormal happens around your car, you can be warned by a short message on your mobile phone.

To offer people more safety for their life and assets, a new start-up company named Lightyear Technologies has developed an innovative anti-theft system called Safely Tech to help motorists protect their vehicles.

Unlike other anti-theft systems, which create a huge disturbance when a car is attacked, Safely Tech will instead send a warning message to the owners to let them know the situation so they can prepare to tackle the problem.

The company's managing director Prapan Vilailert, who is also the developer, said if there was any attempt to steal the car, the system would detect it and automatically send an SMS to the owner.

The system is designed with a small box linked to a mobile phone to send an instant warning. The box, he said, controlled all functions in the system. The developer has adapted a low-cost mobile phone to integrate with the system and created special software on the phone to make automatic calls when an incident occurs. "This will help car owners know their vehicle's status even when they are not nearby," he said.

The system works directly with the car's remote key so every time the owners use the remote to close or open the doors, the system automatically activates.

Prapan said he had designed the system to shut down the car's starting circuit every time users closed the doors with the remote key, so when anyone enters the car, even if they used a conventional key, they cannot start the engine.

"This is to protect unauthorised people from starting the engine even if  they can get into the car," he said.

The real owner has to reset the system in order to deactivate the anti-starting function by pressing a reset button hidden somewhere in the vehicle.

In the worst case, if the car is stolen, the owners can use their mobile phone to remotely command the engine to stop, he added.

The system also includes an emergency function which can automatically call any assigned destination when an emergency incident occurs.

Prapan said the system was designed to give more safety to car owners, especially if they are threatened by other people. "If someone is trying to rob you in the car, just press the emergency button and the system will automatically call an assigned phone number to allow the destination to hear what's going on and send assistance," he said.

Since the mobile phone system can indicate users' locations from the cell-site network, once an incident occurs it will be easy for police to trace the location. However, to give locations more precisely, Prapan plans to include a Global Positioning System feature in the next version.

Having spent two years in the development, Prapan can turn his idea into a commercial product with support from the Thailand Science Park Incubator project.

The project is to provide technology knowledge, facilities and consultancy services to technology start-up companies.

Pongpen Sutharoj

The Nation