The state-held Automobile Club of Romania’s Driving School was established in 1910 – the first driving school in the country.

But in 2015, ACR had to compete with 1378 private driving schools in the country, most of them heavily promoting themselves. Despite having limited resources, ACR wanted to be top of mind for every potential driving student.

No matter the school, students have been learning driving theory on dated, “bird’s eye view” illustrated questionnaires, for decades. ACR decided to reinvent them and create a new test benchmark :“Street View Test”. The first driving tests using Google Street View places. Helping students understand better driving, and “face” the streets right from studying phase.

Besides the tests already on the website, we asked people to flag unusual traffic or road events on Google Street View – that would be turned into new exam questions by ACR instructors. This way, Google Maps turned into a global, traffic education tool.

In the first 3 weeks after launch:

The project granted ACR a place all over prime time news on national TV (7 of the main TV stations) and generated 321 articles in national and international media.

Media unanimously declared “Street View Tests” as “better, more relevant than those used by the Police”

The initiative was selected by the International Automobile Federation, to be implemented in other countries.

The project was picked by the Google Creative Sandbox selection.

248% increase in Facebook fans

52% increase in students for the ACR Driving School, compared to the previous month.

ACR wanted to be top of mind for every potential driving student.

In just 3 weeks after the launch:

The project already granted ACR a place all over prime time news on national TV (on 7 of the main tv stations) and generated 321 articles in national and international media

Media unanimously declared the Street View Tests as “better, more relevant than those used by the Police”

The initiative was selected by the International Automobile Federation, to be implemented in other countries.

The project was picked by the Google Creative Sandbox selection.

248% increase in Facebook fans

52% increase in students for the ACR Driving School compared to the previous month

Based on over 800 relevant Google Street View places, the ACR instructors formulated hundreds of questions, transforming them into exam tests.

The website engine picks those places from the Google Street View API to randomly generate test questions, in the official exam format.

Besides the tests already on the website, we asked people to flag unusual traffic or road events on Google Street View – that would be turned into new exam questions by the ACR instructors. This way, Google Maps turned into a collaborative, global, traffic education tool.

The state-held Automobile Club of Romania’s Driving School was established in 1910.

But in 2015, ACR had to compete with 1378 private driving schools in the country, most of them heavily promoting themselves.

Having driving schools allover Romania, ACR had to reach all potential student prospects.

No matter the school, students have been learning driving theory on dated, “bird’s eye view” illustrated questionnaires, for decades. So ACR decided to reinvent them and create a new test benchmark for the new digital fluent generation- the vast majority of the target being about to or just turned 18 years old (legal age for getting the license).

Introducing “Street View Test”. The first driving theory tests using Google Street View places. Helping students understand better driving, and “face” the streets right from the studying phase, and also engaging them for the first time in driving theory practice.