ATLANTA, Ga. (WRBL)—What started as a group project in class is now months away from creating more accessibility knowledge for Georgia locals. Georgia Tech senior business students Gabriel Jones and Victoria Stopford, both 22, started working on the concept for WheelChariot in 2021 as part of a business class with the goal of making a sort of Yelp specifically for accessibility information. Despite being enrolled full-time, working jobs and having no knowledge of web development, Gabriel Jones and Stopford decided to make their idea from class a reality.
“I’ve been waiting to go full-time with this and so [I’m] just kind of waiting for graduation to go through and school to be over,” Stopford, a Fayetteville, Georgia native, said.
Stopford and Gabriel Jones of Columbus, Georgia told WRBL they plan to launch the beta version of the WheelChariot website on May 1, just before graduation. As of now, they expect around 100 beta testers based on their steadily increasing sign-up rate. The testers will be able to give local businesses accessibility scores on a scale of 1 to 5 based on ramp access, noise level and staff treatment, amongst other factors.
“We’re planning to do a really big push on development this summer… and then dive into a mobile app by the end of this summer,” Gabriel Jones said. He explained the two plan to work on their project after graduation on May 6 through Georgia Tech’s Create-X startup program.
The two explained they have sunken countless hours and about $5,000 of their own money into WheelChariot and brought on Gabriel Jones’ father Ben Jones as their CTO to help create their website. Gabriel Jones and Stopford explained participating in Georgia Tech’s Sustainable-X showcase and an investment from the CEO of Fusen World Christopher Klaus has helped their cause.
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