Highway Dining app previewing upcoming restaurant stops on a driving route

Highway Dining – Driver-Aware Restaurant Finder

Location-intelligent travel app that predicts where you’ll be in 20, 30, 40, or 60 minutes and surfaces the best dining stops along your route.

Industry: travel tourismProject Year: 2014Client: Highway Dining

Services Provided

Experience Design
iOS Development
Routing Engine Integration
Operations & Support

Project Tags

Industries

TourismTravel & TourismTravel Tourism

Focus & Tech

Food & RestaurantiOS (Objective-C).NET Web ServicesSQL ServerBing Maps APIRedis Cache

Overview

Highway Dining calculates your future position based on current speed and route, then recommends restaurants, coffee shops, and rest areas timed perfectly to upcoming breaks. We delivered a driver-friendly UI with large targets, hands-free prompts, and curated content from national partners and local gems.

Our Contributions

Experience Design
iOS Development
Routing Engine Integration
Operations & Support

Supported Devices

iPhone
iPad

Development Tools / Environments

iOS (Objective-C)
.NET Web Services
SQL Server
Bing Maps API
Redis Cache

Implementation Details

Built predictive routing engine calculating future coordinates using current speed, traffic, and planned itinerary.
Integrated restaurant data providers for menus, hours, and ratings with nightly sync jobs and freshness scoring.
Implemented audio prompts, CarPlay support, and large-button UI for safe, glanceable interactions.
Developed partner portal for restaurants to manage sponsored placements, promotions, and analytics.

Admin Features

Content moderation tools to verify partner listings, update amenities, and handle schedule changes.
Analytics dashboard tracking stop selections, dwell time, and redemption of in-app offers.
Campaign management enabling hospitality groups to target travelers by corridor, time of day, or trip length.

The Problem

Road-trippers and truck drivers wasted time making last-minute decisions off exits. They needed a predictive assistant that respected travel schedules, dietary preferences, and safe driving practices.

The Challenge

We needed accurate ETA projections without draining battery, reliable data on restaurant hours and amenities, and an offline mode for low-signal stretches. Safety guidelines required glanceable UI and voice guidance.

The Result

Pilot users reported 25% shorter stop-planning time, partner restaurants saw higher conversion from sponsored placements, and retention climbed as travelers built custom favorite lists for recurring routes.

Key Requirements

Deliver accurate predictive stops while preserving device battery life.
Provide offline resilience so recommendations remain available in low-signal zones.
Support monetization via sponsored listings without compromising user trust.

Results & Impact

Stop-planning time dropped 25% for beta drivers thanks to predictive suggestions.
Sponsored partners recorded a 3× lift in click-through compared to static billboards.
85% of users created favorites within the first three trips, boosting repeat engagement.

Screens & Flows

Route timeline showing upcoming dining stops in 20, 30, 40, and 60 minutes — Timeline view highlights curated stops aligned with your ETA checkpoints, including amenities and ratings.

Restaurant detail with directions, hours, and menu highlights — Detailed stop cards surface hours, cuisine snapshots, parking info, and the quickest detour off your current route.

Filter settings for cuisine preferences and amenities — Travelers personalize suggestions with cuisine filters, dietary flags, and amenity preferences such as EV chargers.

Favorites list featuring saved stops along common routes — Favorites sync across devices so frequent travelers can reuse trusted stops on repeat journeys.

Voice guidance screen prompting upcoming exits — Hands-free prompts remind drivers when an exit is approaching and provide quick accept or skip controls.

Sponsored listing placement for partner restaurants — Sponsored listings give hospitality partners premium visibility while preserving user trust with clear labeling.

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