2017 adventures at what3words
Last year, we shared some of the things we had been up to with what3words - and 2017 has brought us many more exciting partnerships and adventures (along with many weird and wonderful uses of 3 word addresses around the world).
Navigating your car with 3 words
As voice technologies are used more and more in cars, and as we look towards autonomous vehicles, we’ve loved seeing car companies integrate our technology into their products - and Mercedes-Benz announced at the Frankfurt Auto Show that it would be the first car company in the world to bring what3words into series production:
So next year, once you’ve seen a beautiful Instagram post tagged with a 3 word address, or a hotel or Airbnb host has sent you the 3 word address of their front door, you’ll be able to get into a Mercedes, ask it to navigate you to those 3 words and know you’ll end up at exactly the right 3m x 3m square.
We loved unveiling this navigation system with what3words inside and joining the MercedesMe convention (entrance at villas.lions.lizard) to talk about addressing the world in 3 words:
This year we can also celebrate having been part of Plug and Play’s excellent Startup Autobahn programme in Stuttgart and Silicon Valley, where we were lucky enough to work with brilliant teams from Daimler, Porsche and DXC.
Jaguar Land Rover also built what3words into their off-roading app Ardhi, and we got to see what it would look like for autonomous vehicles to use 3 word addresses with NEXT.
Travelling the world
It’s been another year of global travel for our team and we have loved exploring, as ever. More and more travel guides (like the Fodor’s partner app TripWolf), luxury hotels and tour guides are using 3 word addresses to make sure guests always find their way, with thousands of restaurants and hotels around the world now listing 3 word addresses on their websites.
And if luxury hotels aren’t your thing, you can always check out the youth hostels, Airbnb hosts and TripAdvisor listings (this beautiful Earth Lodge in Guatemala, for example, or this pizza place in Thailand) that are sharing 3 word addresses too.
In response to popular demand, we also launched a 3WordPhoto app to help you share those hidden gems, beautiful spots or simply capture a moment in a particular place. You can download the app here on iOS and Android.
I loved getting to explore Mexico this year, and here are a few of my favourite places from my trip there in November, using our new photo app:
Telling the robots exactly where to go
Our CEO and co-founder Chris recently wrote an article exploring vehicle navigation, IoT and why addresses just don’t work for voice technology. We’ve loved seeing businesses provide a solution to this problem by integrating what3words into their IoT devices, drones and autonomous vehicle routing systems. Some of my personal favourites are the voice routing for a drone using Amazon Alexa and what3words, a navigation app specifically for the visually impaired, the Beeline device for cyclists and drone delivery with 3 words.
Delivery that’s actually to your door
With booming global ecommerce, delivery companies are using 3 word addresses to improve efficiency - and this year, companies have been testing 3 word addresses versus traditional addresses. In London, Quiqup conducted a race between two drivers and established just how much faster 3 word addresses are:
In Dubai, meanwhile, our delivery partner Aramex found that using 3 word addresses shaves of 22% of the distance travelled by drivers and were 42% faster overall.
And we loved seeing Pizza Hut and Domino’s bring to life in video form some of the things they’re doing with what3words, too, to make sure your pizza reaches you hot and delicious.
We were also joined on our journey by Deutsche Bahn, whose mobility and logistics solutions for the future will need highly precise pick-up and drop-off points. Seeing them unveil the new what3words sign for their Berlin HQ was pretty great, too:
Building infrastructure with what3words
Last year, we saw, Mongolia become the first country to adopt what3words as its official addressing system. I’ve so much enjoyed visiting the country and seeing our team there grow - now, we love that you can see 3 word addresses on every bus stop in Ulaanbaatar, on Facebook pages and websites, being used to open a bank account or deliver Pizza Hut pizza, in the official tourist maps, used by Mongolian Airbnb hosts and glimpsed around the city through signs hanging in windows and on gates. We have a stellar team of three out in Mongolia and love seeing the ecosystem they’re building to make sure everyone can get access to critical services - and, of course, to make sure they never get lost on their way to a date.
We were joined in early 2017 by Anne-Claire Blet from the UN’s Universal Postal Union, who is now working with innovators all over the world to ensure everyone can receive goods and services at home (and Anne-Claire is hiring in her team, so do check out our jobs page). So this year, we have seen not just one country, but eight, that have now adopted what3words, including places like Nigeria where ecommerce is growing rapidly, and island nations like Tonga and Kiribati.
Lyngsoe has also built 3 word address recognition technology into its postal sortation machines, route optimisation tools like RouteXL now accept 3 word addresses, and apps used by governments in surveying and mapping such as Gruntify have added what3words functionality.
As ever, NGOs are using our technology to do incredible things - just two examples of these are the work done by IHS in the Mexican earthquake recovery efforts, and by Gateway Health in South Africa to reduce maternal mortality.
Our CEO Chris also gave a TED Talk in Tanzania this year - check it out here to hear more about how what3words started and where we’re going:
We’ve also seen the what3words team grow to over 50 people this year, and now have teams in South Africa, led by Lyndsey Duff, Mongolia, led by Uyanga Munkhbold, and Dubai, led by Alex Perez-Fragero. We’re definitely still hiring - check out this recent update by our CEO Chris Sheldrick on some of our open roles - so please do get in touch if you think there’s a good fit for you.
Getting involved
Often, when people have seen the TED Talk or read about what3words, or met one of our amazing team, they ask how they can be involved. There are many simple things you can do - like sharing our job adverts with fantastic people you know, or getting in touch if you want to use 3 word addresses in your business.
It’s also brilliant to see people tagging beautiful photographs they’ve taken with 3 word addresses.
We love it when people provide their 3 word address when ordering online or inviting people over, when they put it in email signatures, on their websites or on business cards - and, of course, you should always ask for a 3 word address to make sure you arrive at exactly the right place.
It’s been a great year working with our partners here at what3words, and we look forward to sharing many more adventures with you all in 2018.
