Patented wireless passenger seatbelt safety for buses, ambulances, & more
The team has transitioned from a B2C to a B2B model, having designed, refined, and developed an elevated version.
In 2012, Andrew Leary founded Lockliv Holdings PTY LTD, a company involved in the development of a seatbelt warning device for cars, marking his pursuit of increasing the safety of global transportation. That quest was fueled when Professor Robert Morley, a researcher in computer engineering and low-power VLSI design and the co-inventor of an awarded digital hearing aid, joined the board of directors, lending his comprehensive expertise to aid Andrew’s mission. After nearly 12 years of research and development, this journey led to a fully-fledged, patented product called Bucklemeup™, a wireless, Bluetooth-enabled passenger safety system for vehicles.
What started as a car seatbelt monitoring system designed for private consumers over the years transformed into a global-scale movement driven by the all-encompassing patent enabling multiple use cases, from buses to ambulances and even security gates. The team has transitioned from a B2C to a B2B model, having designed, refined, and developed an elevated version – Bus Bucklemeup™. This edition allows for a streamlined installation of its seatbelt safety alarm in buses containing up to 60 seats, compared to the previous capacity of up to eight. Moreover, the improved magnetic circulation allows Bucklemeup to work with different-sized seatbelts.
Proudly owned, designed, developed, tested, and manufactured in Australia, this globally-recognised patent is innovative in its simplicity. By equipping each seat with a retrofitted wireless sensor, the device sends an alert via a proprietary app, notifying the driver of the passengers’ seatbelt status. Its user-friendly interface displays the vehicle’s layout on a mobile phone or a tablet, marking all buckled-up travellers in green and those who aren’t – in red. Through this, a driver can monitor and control the safety of their bus without taking their eyes off the road as the dashboard monitor is located within the dashboard viewing cone.
On its path toward becoming the industry’s leader in innovative, technology-driven security products for the prevention of accidents and injuries, Bucklemeup’s precise sensor takes note of every passenger on board, ensuring no one is overlooked. The device is powered by a magnet component that captures the ferromagnetic steel of the buckle, which then automatically triggers an alert, notifying the driver of each passenger’s seatbelt status.
Executed by a team of experts, Bus Bucklemeup™ is a robust and reliable system that can be easily retrofitted to existing vehicles while eradicating the need for significant modifications. An affordable, accessible, and efficient solution, this technology reduces the average cost of rivalling systems for buses, with an average of 35 seats, from $25,000 to $9,000, according to the founder. Moreover, the entire vehicle can be elevated in just an hour; that is due to the unique Bucklemeup™ cartridge that is fixed to the existing seatbelt using double-sided tape and the impact of a magnetic field. The installation of the hardwired system requires the bus to be off the road for one or two weeks.
While Bucklemeup™ centres its focus on passenger vehicles, the patent’s ambitions and possibilities extend far beyond cars and buses. This wireless monitoring security system can be incorporated within pool gates, ambulances, school buses, and many more, offering a unique opportunity to personalise Bucklemeup™ to individual needs and goals. Attesting to the belief that simplicity optimises success, the patent comprises less than 20 claims, making it challenging to breach and replicate.
In 2017, before refining Bus Bucklemeup™, Andrew was featured on Shark Tank; after a performance that garnered over 6 million views, the company experienced organic growth. This event was also the pivotal moment that inspired the transition toward larger vehicles, with inquiries from bus providers flowing in daily. Supported by a team who knew the ins and outs of the technology – a team of people who have, for the most part, been there since the beginning – the technology was promptly and successfully enhanced, attesting to their unique culture of collaboration, integrity, determination, and honesty.
A testament to Bucklemeup’s boundless potential to reshape the world, the patent won the Australian Good Design Awards 2023 in the Automotive and Transport category. Known for showcasing the very best and most innovative designs, this accolade is more than another trophy; it is a symbol of Bucklemeup’s vision of safeguarding the security of passengers, drivers, and fellow road travelers. Additionally, in 2018 Andrew Leary won the Ernst Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Asia Pacific and attended the worldwide competition in Rome.
Within the walls of Bucklemeup™, the mission is the journey and the vision is the arrival – safe, without casualties, and with peace of mind. “Safety on the road is our collective responsibility,” stresses Andrew. “This technology informs those steering the wheel of who is doing the right thing and who isn’t, all without taking their attention from what’s ahead for even an instant. Once you try Bucklemeup, you’ll never look back, and neither will the drivers; all the necessary information is right in front.”
