What if motorists were like fitness fanatics: always chasing that personal best?
That's the kind of world Danny Adams and Ian Davidson hope to usher in with GoFar, though the aim here is to be the most efficient, not the fastest.
GoFar is a device that plugs into a car's computer systems and gives motorists real time feedback on how efficiently they are using their fuel: accelerate too quickly or brake too heavily and a red flight will appear on your dashboard.
It also gives drivers a score at the end of the trip and tells them how much fuel they've used.
The idea is to "gamify" fuel efficiency: to have drivers altering their behaviour to beat their personal best score and in the process cut emissions and save money on petrol.
"You can draw the parallel with the Fitbit or calorie trackers, once you start to measure something you start to manage it better," Mr Adams says.
"Using the product, I find, is quite addictive. You want to avoid that red light and in doing so you're increasing your efficiency."
GoFar has been a hit on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, where it has so far raised more than $116,000 - more than double its target - by effectively pre-selling hundreds of the devices to motorists as far afield as Sweden and Canada.
When the campaign finishes early next week, Mr Adams and Mr Davidson hope to have sold their first 1,000 devices.
While the device is being marketed to consumers, the founders are also targeting the car fleet market, where the cumulative fuel savings could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Mr Adams, who has been working on the device since 2009, said the initial idea was to find a way to cut emissions for motorists who don't drive hybrid or electric cars.
"You wouldn't drive down the road and throw rubbish out the window, yet we drive and dump carbon out the source and don't give it a second thought because it's invisible," he said.
"So the thought was if we can make that visible, if we can measure that and display it, then people would be more motivated to do something about it."
Data from the device could be put to use in other ways as well, including allowing insurers to better calculate premiums based on a driver's behaviour.
"As a good driver you are necessarily subsidising the bad ones," he said.
"You would pay your premium based on your personal circumstances based on how you drive and how you use your car, rather than being lumped into a category."
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