Yannick Alléno made his name as a world-renowned chef with multiple Michelin-starred restaurants. But since the tragic death of his 24-year-old son Antoine in a traffic accident caused by a reckless driver, he has dedicated significant time and energy to road safety advocacy.
Association Antoine Alléno (AAA), the non-profit he co-founded in memory of his too-soon-departed son, is active on many fronts: supporting grieving families, raising awareness, and bringing together all relevant parties to prevent the loss of young lives to road violence.
In a recent episode of the Selected podcast recorded at VivaTech 2025, Alléno explained that AAA is involving all kinds of stakeholders of its efforts — not just public decision makers, but also big companies, artists, and startups. That is also what brought him to VivaTech, where AAA enlisted Havas Events to showcase the association’s IMPACT initiative, with support from partners including the Renault Foundation.
Complete with its own pavillion and a series of talks featuring big companies, insurers, and other key stakeholders, IMPACT raised awareness among this year’s 180,000 attendees of risk factors such as distracted driving, excessive speed and substance use. But with the goal of fostering innovation to reduce these risks, the pavilion also showcased innovative projects in that direction, often developed in collaboration with major companies, as well as the finalists from the call for startups it launched during the 2024 edition of VivaTech.
Five winners, more to know
After receiving more than 120 applications from 42 countries, the IMPACT Start-up Challenge shortlisted some great teams, all of which got a chance to present their projects at VivaTech. But among them, it also picked five winners who shared €50,000 in prizes.
The winner in the Accident Prevention category was Liberty Rider, whose popular app automatically detects motorcyclists’ falls and immediately alerts emergency services. With support from insurers, the startup is now working on leveraging data to warn riders of dangers such as slippery roads.
There was also a jury’s pick in that category: Konboi, which aims to make the roads safer with an AI-enabled cruise control called Hypermile. The runner-ups were Israeli startup Ride Vision, Consenz from Sweden, Italian company Easyrain, and Bilbao-based Asimob; as well as Linkbycar and WISP Solutions out of France.
Two startups made the shortlist the category dedicated to reducing the impact of accidents: BANF, a Korean startup whose technology monitors tire pressure and more; and winner D’un Seul Geste, a startup applying VR to teach first aid all across France, which is aiming for 80% of the French population to be trained in life-saving gestures by 2027.
Among startups focused on encouraging responsible driving, the winner was ETHYLOWHEEL, which develops a device for measuring blood alcohol levels through the skin. But the jury also made an extra pick: CorrActions, whose neuro-monitoring system detects signs of distracted or impaired driving. The category also featured Artificient, Driven Telematics, and MWheel Mobility.
Prize money aside, the five winners will receive support from AAA and its partners to accelerate the deployment of their innovative solutions. That is also why the challenge had as one of its criteria that the finalists should have solutions that could be applied on a large scale. To make this happen, the winners will also get onto a fast track to Moove Lab, a mobility-focused accelerator inside Station F.
Given that some of these winning teams are already quite advanced, we expect to hear more from them soon with real progress on road safety. For the runner-ups, the exposure and connections they gained at VivaTech could give their projects the boostthey need to come back next year with real momentum, showing how far they’ve come and the difference they’re starting to make.