We are not asking for a moonshot. We are asking for things that affect real people, every single day, that should have been solved years ago given what technology is currently capable of. The gap between what tech can do and what it has bothered to do is genuinely baffling.
Finding a parking spot
Every major city. Every busy area. Every game day, holiday, and Saturday afternoon. We have GPS, real-time data, and sensors in everything — and yet the process of finding a parking spot in 2025 is functionally identical to what it was in 1975. Drive around. Hope. Some cities have partial systems. None have cracked it at scale.
Knowing exactly when your package will arrive
Not “by end of day.” Not “between 8am and 8pm.” The actual window — within thirty minutes — so you can plan your day around it rather than hover near the door for twelve hours. The driver knows where they are. The truck knows where it’s going. That information is not being shared with you.
Spam calls
Your phone knows who is calling. It knows whether that number has called thousands of other people in the last hour. It knows the call is coming from a spoofed number registered two days ago. It lets it through anyway and rings at full volume while you’re in a meeting. Billions of dollars have been spent studying this problem. The robocalls keep coming.
Knowing whether a restaurant is actually loud before you get there
You look up a restaurant. You see the cuisine, the price, the hours, the reviews. You arrive and cannot hear the person sitting directly across from you. Noise level is one of the most common complaints in restaurant reviews and one of the most important factors for older diners, people with hearing aids, and anyone trying to have an actual conversation. It is not a standard data field anywhere.
Finding the source of a smell in your house
Something smells. It is coming from somewhere. You have checked the obvious places. The smell continues. There is no consumer device that helps you locate the source of an odor — despite the fact that electronic nose technology has existed in industrial settings for years. You are on your own. You will smell everything individually until you find it.
Knowing if your car mechanic’s diagnosis is accurate
You bring your car in. They plug in the diagnostic tool. They tell you what’s wrong and what it costs to fix. You have no way of independently verifying any of it. A consumer-facing OBD reader that translates the same data into plain language, cross-references repair costs in your area, and flags whether the recommended repair is actually necessary does not exist in any mainstream form.
Medication interaction checking at the pharmacy
You are prescribed a new medication. You are already taking three others. The pharmacist checks for interactions — but only against medications filled at that specific pharmacy. If your prescriptions come from multiple providers or pharmacies, nobody is looking at the full picture. An app that does this comprehensively, accurately, and in plain English for the average patient does not exist.
Knowing whether a flight will actually be delayed before you leave for the airport
Airlines know hours — sometimes days — in advance that a flight is going to be delayed. The crew isn’t in position. The inbound aircraft is late. The math is already clear. That information is not passed to passengers until the last possible moment, leaving people sitting in terminals for hours who could have left the house later, rebooked, or made other arrangements with plenty of time to spare.
Finding out if a contractor is actually good before hiring them
Review platforms exist. They are gamed, filtered, and largely useless for distinguishing a genuinely skilled contractor from one who is good at asking satisfied customers to leave five stars. A verified, job-specific track record system — with documented outcomes, permit history, and real complaint data — does not exist for the home services industry in any reliable form.
None of these require a breakthrough. They require someone to decide it’s worth building. Which one has personally cost you the most? Drop it in the comments, and follow for more.
