Dashero

Overview

Dashero was an AI-driven, end-to-end in-vehicle commerce platform — voice ordering, payment, and predictive curbside pickup integrated directly into the head unit of a connected vehicle. The pitch was simple: more than 135 million Americans drive to work every morning, $212 billion is spent on coffee, breakfast, takeout, and groceries along that commute, and almost all of it happens through smartphone apps used unsafely behind the wheel. Dashero put ordering where the driver already is.

I co-founded Dashero with Ardy Rahman and Juan Acevedo after winning the grand prize at the 2018 Code AutoMobility LA Hackathon at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The win turned into a partnership with Ford Mobility and TribalScale Venture Studios, and the platform officially launched at CES 2019 in Ford’s main booth — integrated with Autonomic’s Transportation Mobility Cloud — as a working prototype for OEMs, payment providers, and store inventory systems.

What sets it apart

My role

As Co-Founder and Director of Engineering, I led the engineering direction of Dashero from hackathon prototype to CES launch — designing and building the core in-vehicle commerce platform, developing the Android Auto prototype with Dialogflow-driven natural language ordering, and partnering with Ford Mobility and TribalScale Venture Studios to ship a working demonstration on real automotive infrastructure.

• Co-founded Dashero and led engineering direction and execution
• Designed and built the core in-vehicle commerce platform end to end
• Developed the Android Auto prototype integrating voice ordering workflows
• Implemented natural-language processing using Dialogflow for the conversational ordering flow
• Partnered with Ford Mobility and TribalScale Venture Studios to integrate with the Transportation Mobility Cloud
• Worked across product, design, and engineering to define the in-vehicle user experience
• Delivered a CES-ready prototype and supported live demonstrations in Ford’s main booth

Dashero · in-vehicle demo

CES 2019 · Ford booth

Dashero officially launched at CES 2019 in Ford’s main booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The platform sat alongside Ford’s connected-vehicle initiatives as a live, voice-driven demonstration of in-vehicle commerce.

Capabilities

• Voice-driven ordering
• Predictive ETA & routing
• Curbside pickup coordination
• Hands-free confirmation
• In-vehicle pre-payment
• Store inventory awareness
• Conversational flows
• Head-unit UX
• Connected-vehicle telemetry
• Dashboard interface
• Order history
• Multi-store catalog

Distributed across

Built on

Languages

KotlinJavaScript

Voice & AI

DialogflowNatural language processingConversational UX

Automotive

Android AutoAutomotive head unitsTransportation Mobility Cloud (Autonomic)

Cloud & integrations

Google Cloud PlatformPayment & location providersStore inventory management systems

Domain

In-vehicle commercePredictive pickupHands-free UXCurbside fulfillment

Platforms

Android AutoAutomotive head units

Press & further reading

Selected coverage of Dashero’s CES 2019 launch, the AutoMobility LA Hackathon, and the broader in-car commerce market it sat inside.

• In-Vehicle E-Commerce Platform Dashero Launches at CES 2019TribalScale (Medium), 2019Official launch announcement covering the Ford partnership, Transportation Mobility Cloud integration, and the platform pitch.
• CES 2019 — Searching for AI and Robotics InnovationEdge AI + Vision Alliance, 2019Independent CES recap calling out Dashero’s Ford partnership and the AI / ML angle of in-car commerce.
• Global In-Car Marketplace 2019–2025 — Use Cases and TransactionsBusinessWire / Research and Markets, 2020Industry research framing the size and trajectory of the in-car commerce market that Dashero targeted.
• Visa and General Motors to Co-Sponsor 2018 Hackathon at AutoMobility LAPR Newswire, 2018Background on the Code AutoMobility LA Hackathon — the event Dashero won, which seeded the Ford and TribalScale partnership.
• 2018 AutoMobility LA — Show recap (PDF)LA Auto Show, 2019Official AutoMobility LA recap covering the hackathon and connected-vehicle programming Dashero emerged from.

“Order. Pay. Go. — In-vehicle voice commerce, debuted with Ford at CES 2019.”