PassPath

Most theory apps open on question one. PassPath opens on the whole road: the permit, the eye test, the lessons and the test, so a learner knows what lies ahead before they answer anything, in the language they choose.

The rules are different for an Irish learner, for someone with a licence from abroad and for someone who has never driven. I ask a few plain questions first, what they will drive, where their licence is from and how long they have held it, and the app builds their own path from the answers.

Each step on the path shows what it costs, what it needs and when it was done, and the next one is always waiting. Nobody has to search a forum to find out what comes after the permit.

Memorised answers fade the week after the test. Each rule in PassPath is a short animated scene, a car pulling in, a pelican crossing, a driver too close behind, so learners understand why the answer is right and take it onto the road.

Mock tests run like the real one, with the real timing and pass mark. Weak topics come back until they are learned, and a home screen widget asks a question a few times a day, so revision happens in the queue, not only at the desk.

Pass rates are not the same from one test centre to the next. I put every theory and driving test centre in Ireland on one map with its pass rate, and one tap finds an approved instructor nearby.

Ireland’s new drivers come from everywhere. Questions and their explanations can be switched into the learner’s own language, so the rule is understood first and the English wording learned on top of it.

Taxi Pass is the same system, built for Ireland’s SPSV taxi licence. A driver picks taxi, hackney or limousine and the county they will work in, and gets their own seven steps from the entry test to the roof sign, with the fee and the waiting time on each. The same system also runs for eight more countries.