A NEW mobile phone app that will create at least 50 jobs has been developed by a Cleator Moor firm – and hopes are high that the jobs will be kept locally.

Jolt is an app that replaces car dash cams, recording information from collisions and sending it direct to insurers.

It has been developed by Imperious Technologies, owned by entrepreneur Mark Robinson.

The app has been in development since March and will be launched in October. Mr Robinson says he will need to recruit around 50 workers to meet initial targets. He added that it is his intention to keep as much of the company in Cumbria as possible.

The software has the edge over ‘dash cams’ because it uses mobile phone accelerometers and GPS technology to record impact speed, and can send exact location information.

It is free to consumers, with insurers paying every time information is submitted to them via the app.

It is estimated that using this software can half the cost of gathering information for insurance claims, as well as reducing ‘cash for crash claims’ and insurance fraud.

Mr Robinson has played a key part in other rapidly growing and innovative Cumbrian businesses such as HiDef, and REACT Engineering, which has worked on the Fukushima clean-up operation in Japan.

The idea for his latest venture followed a dispute over a car crash he was involved in.

He predicts that the software will take the motoring world by storm in the same way that satellite navigation on mobile phones has.

Mr Robinson said: “This is a world-first and we have spent a sum of money researching if there is anything similar around the world. If we got about one per cent of the market we would need about 50 new people in three to four months. That is after the initial launch but we hope to have 25 per cent of all drivers using it.

“We launched it to insurers a couple of days ago and already have meetings with around half of them.”

Some key roles in the company have already been filled including a technical director and MD, and Mr Robinson has been able to use expertise and resources from sister companies to develop the software.

He says when the workforce is expanded he would like to recruit people from Cumbria and into Cumbria, however suitable office space and internet connections could prove to be barriers.

Insurance companies from America and car manufacturers have already shown interest in the technology, and it is currently being tested by the Collision Investigation Unit of Cumbria Constabulary.