Beep, beep: Slow down!

Daniel White's truck is its own back seat driver. When he jabs the gas too harshly or brakes too abruptly, it tells him to take it easy. Now he says he's a better, more efficient driver, all because of a little box that watches how he drives, then beeps when he's driving too aggressively.

"It's a nagging beep that teaches me to be a better driver; I call it my paradigm shift," White said. "To me it's just one of those ah-ha (moments); I get better gas mileage just by driving better?"

White is speaking about the CarChip Pro, a new Zippo lighter-size device that plugs into his truck's on-board diagnostic port to record information about that way he drives, directly from the truck's ECM computer.

The device can be set to a certain speed, and alerts drivers when the speed is reached, as well when they are accelerating too quickly or braking too harshly. The chip helps drivers become aware of their driving habits and trains them to become better drivers, while saving money on fuel, and decreasing carbon emissions.

Although the device is still in its early stages, CarChip Pro company owner Michael Bragg said the goal of his product is to bring efficiency to smaller business owners to help them deal with the rising fuel costs, while improving safety and reducing risks all at the same time.

"I started doing research and started learning about eco-driving, mostly out of Europe," Bragg said. "And found that the quickest, easiest way to reduce your carbon-footprint is to have drivers drive more gently."

Bragg is now reaching out to drivers and giving his product a name for itself through his Web site fuelclinic.com, a site that not only offers the purchase of the CarChip Pro, but also gives consumers a way of tracking and improving their gas mileage.

"We have over 3,400 members who have tracked over 8.4 million miles of driving, and have improved fuel mileage an average of 5 percent," he said. "We want to be the one-stop shop, where we have the whole package."

FuelClinic.com also recently won second place in ITS America, the U.S. division of the Intelligent Transportation Society's, global challenge. The Congestion Challenge was judged by a community of 4,000, with more than 116 startup companies from 20 countries participating.

Bragg said although his site did not place first, he is still proud of second and believes the exposure will greatly help his company.

Plans to commercialize could already be underway for the CarChip, as a partnership with the city of Sanford begins its early stages of development.

City of Sanford Economic Development Director Bob Tunis said an agreement in principal to test the device in a selection of about ten city vehicles has been made, although details of the deal are still in the works.

"We really think this could have an effect on our fleet fuel consumption," Tunis said. "So we are happy to be used as a test fleet for this device."

He said this test is being done for no cost to either side as a way to prove the system works, and is also very happy to be working with a the Sanford University of Central Florida Business Incubator, the place where the FuelClinic.com is housed.

"It's perfect timing, because look at the price of gas right now. It's already close to $3 a gallon in the middle of the worst recession since 1930," Tunis said. "Who knows what it will be like when the economy recovers?"

For more information visit www.FuelClinic.com.