To obtain a driver’s licence in Denmark, a minimum of sixteen hours of driving instruction are required in a specific order that matches the theory lessons. However, the driving lessons do not always go by the book. Driving school scams are a growing problem and can result in poorer drivers, thereby affecting road safety, according to Kasper Nissen, who is taking an MSc in Computer Technology at Aarhus University.

“The driving school branch is lagging on the digital front. Training new drivers is based on some printed lesson plans that must be signed after each teaching module. It’s very easy to cheat if you want to. All it requires is a handwritten signature beside the individual driving modules, and it’s very difficult for the authorities to control whether the lessons have actually taken place at the appropriate times in relation to the theory lessons prescribed by the ministerial order for driving licences,” he says.

No more paperwork for driving instructors
Kasper Nissen has founded a company called Drivelogger, which is behind a new web application of the same name. The driving instructors can use this to register each completed teaching module. The pupil subsequently receives notification, where he or she can confirm completion.

At the same time, the application automatically records the date, as well as the time and distance driven by the driving school’s car, thus stamping out any form of cheating.

“Our application makes life a whole lot easier for the majority of driving instructors, who get out of doing quite extensive paper and documentation work. The same applies to the police, who can easily get an overview and control the quality of driving instruction in Denmark. On the other hand, it makes life difficult for the few driving schools that base their business on fraud,” says Kasper Nissen.

Inspiration from the aircraft industry
He got the idea for Drivelogger from the aircraft industry’s digital control of training hours for pilots. The development work has been going on for a little more than a year and the web application has been tested in recent months at a driving school in Aarhus, where the first group of ‘Drivelogger pupils’ is ready to take their test.

“It’s perfectly obvious to digitise the recording practice connected with running a driving school. It’ll make our administrative work significantly easier, and will also assure everyone that new motorists always complete the mandatory training. It’s simply too easy to cheat today,” says Michael Rask, proprietor of the Rask Driving School in Aarhus.

Drivelogger is ready to roll out the system throughout Denmark, but is waiting for final approval of a completed test run by the National Commission of the Danish Police. Once it has been approved, it will be legal for Danish driving instructors to record their data digitally.

The web application is expected to be commercially available immediately after the test period – initially on the Danish market and later on the German market.

For more information, please contact

Engineering student Kasper Nissen
Partner in Drivelogger
kni@drivelogger.dk
+45 3049 0720

More information

Drivelogger has a number of functions that make it possible to combine the administration of a driving school in one single system that can be operated online from the car.