1. Emmanuel, to begin, could you briefly introduce yourself and tell us about your professional background?
My name is Emmanuel Petit, and I am the co-founder and CEO of Liberty Rider.
Before launching the company, I was above all a passionate motorcyclist, spending a lot of time riding the roads around Toulouse. My background is quite unusual: I don’t come from the tech or insurance world, but I grew up in a family where safety was always a central topic — a father who worked in insurance, and a mother who was a speech therapist supporting victims of traumatic brain injuries.
This combination of a love for the open road and an awareness of risk naturally led me to create a solution dedicated to motorcyclists.
2. Liberty Rider has become a key player in the motorcycle safety landscape. What was the initial idea or personal experience that inspired you to create the company?
The idea for Liberty Rider was born one day as I was riding alone between Toulouse and Saint-Gaudens, on one of those beautiful but isolated country roads. For nearly twenty minutes, I didn’t see a single person. I thought to myself: “If I crash here, I could stay in a ditch for hours without anyone noticing.”
That exact moment triggered the entire project.
With two friends, we launched Liberty Rider in 2014. No office, no budget — just an old motorcycle, a lot of passion, and the desire to solve a real problem. We started by talking with thousands of riders, simulating dozens of fake accidents to test the technology, and then developing the first versions of the app.
Even today, that moment in the ditch continues to drive everything we do.
3. Looking at where Liberty Rider is today, what are the main challenges and opportunities you see for the future?
Today, Liberty Rider protects nearly two million motorcyclists, and our mission goes far beyond simple crash detection.
The major challenge for the coming years is prevention. We want to reduce accidents before they even occur. Our goal is clear: to reach one accident every 600,000 km by 2030, compared to 300,000 km today.
This relies on three key pillars:
- data, to identify the most accident-prone roads;
- behavioral analysis, to understand risky situations;
- community involvement, for example through our “Green Line” concept, which makes a road increasingly safe thanks to feedback from riders.
The opportunity ahead is immense: extending our technology to other forms of mobility (bicycles, scooters, cars), and to other countries. We are already active in Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain, and the reception has been very positive.
4. OCTO and Liberty Rider recently entered a partnership focused on supporting motorcyclists through data and innovation. Why did you choose OCTO as a strategic partner, and what value do you see in this collaboration?
We chose OCTO because we share a common vision: making the road safer through technology and data. OCTO has recognized expertise in mobility data management and analysis, and a strong presence in Italy.
On our side, we bring deep knowledge of motorcyclist behavior and a unique technology for crash detection and safety alerts.
The value of this collaboration is therefore very natural:
- OCTO helps us accelerate our development in Europe, especially in Italy;
- together, we can offer more complete and more powerful services, always centered on driver safety;
- and we share the same philosophy: protecting riders without ever forgetting the pleasure of riding.
It is a partnership focused on innovation — but above all, on motorcyclists.