Our Story

In the summer of 2010, Michael Percher, a retired entrepreneur, watched the news. He learned of a 17 year-old from Indiana, Trey Kidwell, who lost his life in 2007 when he accidentally drove his car into a lake.  The young man’s story touched him so much that he decided to look into the problem of vehicle submersion.  What he learned disturbed him: of all single-vehicle accident types, submersion carries one of the highest fatality rates and the cause of death is drowning, not trauma.  More importantly, he learned that we only have one minute to get out. 

Fast forward to June 2011, and AWOS Technologies was born, along with a first prototype.  But nothing worth pursuing is ever simple.  During a 2012 field test, we learned that opening the windows while the vehicle is inverted causes it to sink rapidly while upside down.  That simply wasn’t an option for us or for passengers. 

We took our concept back to the whiteboard in order to design a superior product.  We didn’t realize it at the time, but this development phase would span 6 years, 2 continents and multiple redesigns. Now AWOS is ready to protect what matters most: you.

But we’re not finished.

Automotive is rapidly evolving, and so are we.  To ensure that we all have a way out of life-threatening situations, we are engineering the next version of AWOS to protect you even more.  From our humble beginning in Montreal, Canada, where all the design and engineering magic takes place, our presence has extended to Mission, Texas, where we can be closer to our manufacturing partners and distribution channels.  With a watchful eye turned to tomorrow’s challenges, our team of experts is growing so that we continue to develop technologies that make your world a safer place.