Washington, DC – Today, Congresswoman Julia Brownley (D-CA) announced Kevin Fei from Westlake High School as the winner of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge for California’s 26th Congressional District. Kevin’s app, Motio, promotes safe driving by providing real-time analysis and input on individual driving performance, alerting users to hotspots for bad driving, and encouraging community collaboration to improve overall safety on our roads.
“I am always impressed by the creativity, ingenuity, and problem-solving capabilities of the youth in our community who participate in this annual coding competition,” said Congresswoman Brownley. “This year, I am so pleased to congratulate Kevin on his development of Motio, an app that confronts the hazards of driving. Motio tackles safety shortcomings on our roads by keeping users apprised of weaknesses in their own driving performance and alerting them to hotspots for bad driving. Kevin’s app also integrates social media elements to promote safer driving habits among friends. Apps like Motio can not only save lives, but they can also better inform local leaders and law enforcement officials about how to make our roads safer.
“Without fail, my office receives outstanding submissions for the Congressional App Challenge every single year,” continued Brownley. I applaud all of this year’s applicants for their remarkable initiative and innovative solutions to some of the most pressing problems facing our world today. From improving disaster preparedness networks to bolstering our mental health support apparatus, these students have designed valuable online resources that strengthen our communities and collective well-being. Our district is very lucky to be home to these talented innovators.”
“In 2022, nearly 5000 people were killed or injured in Ventura County due to car-related accidents. Living in a world where cars are the main form of transportation, millions of lives are put at risk every day, simply by trying to get to work, school, or the local grocery store to buy snacks. My hope is that Motio can help reduce the likelihood of these accidents occurring. By utilizing the phone’s GPS and accelerometer data to offer insights and detect abnormalities in one’s driving, and by combining aspects of social media, Motio strives to create a culture of safe driving among friends, as well as collaborate with local governments in order to keep the roads secure. I aim to use my experiences participating in this competition to further improve Motio and continue to address pressing issues in our world,” said Kevin Fei, the first-place winner of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge.
“We are incredibly proud of Kevin and this remarkable accomplishment of winning the 2025 Congressional App Challenge. This is a testament to his innovation, creativity, and commitment to improving our community. Kevin has developed this app in order to analyze the key elements of the driving experience including velocity, acceleration, hard braking, and sharp turning while providing drivers with meaningful feedback to promote safer habits behind the wheel. Even more impressive is his forward-thinking vision to build a database of high-risk driving hotspots that could be shared with local departments to enhance community safety,” said Jason Branham, Principal of Westlake High School.
“It is always an honor to participate in this Challenge and see all the innovative and well-constructed solutions presented. It is important to note that the winner cannot just present the best-looking application. They need to provide the compelling value to the solution, demonstrate technical skill in how it was built, and formally present it like a Shark Tank presentation. Kevin exceeded my expectations on all of these with his Motio solution,” said Terry Theobald, Chief Information Officer for the County of Ventura and judge of the Congressional App Challenge.
“This year’s applications showed how accessible development tools are empowering more individual students to rapidly prototype solutions for local challenges, opening the door for a new generation of problem-solvers,” said Dr. Michael Soltys, Computer Science Professor at California State University, Channel Islands and judge of the Congressional App Challenge.
Below are the video submissions for the first-place, second-place, third-place, and honorable mention winners of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge:
- 1st Place: Motio, created by Kevin Fei
- 2nd Place: EvacuationHub-DisasterScope, created by Myron Lai
- 3rd Place: Bridgeneration, created by Phoebe Jin-Ngo
- Honorable Mention: Compass, created by Rithik Philip.
The Congressional App Challenge is a competition organized by Members of Congress across the country for middle school and high school students to create their own software applications and gain experience with computer coding.
Submissions from students across the 26th Congressional District were judged by a panel of local judges who work within the academic, software, and entrepreneurial fields. This year’s submissions were judged by Terry Theobald, Chief Information Officer for the County of Ventura; Joaquin Licea, Chief Technology Officer for the Ventura County Office of Education; and Dr. Michael Soltys, Computer Science Professor at California State University, Channel Islands.
To learn more about the Congressional App Challenge, visit juliabrownley.house.gov/services/the-house-student-app-challenge/.
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Issues: 119th Congress