India, Aug. 20 -- We've all had that heart-in-mouth moment while driving when a sudden thump, bruised suspension, and a string of unspeakable words get directed at the authorities over potholes. But while most of us just vent on social media and move on, Gaurav Sen, 33, an engineer, decided he'd had enough of Bengaluru's notorious road craters wrecking his vehicle's wheels and created an app: Pothole Detector. Sen built the app not just to spot potholes while a driver is on the road, but also to identify the responsible contractor through government records, and help file repair complaints. "There is always so much discussion around how deadly these potholes can be," shares Gaurav, speaking of the long-brewing frustration behind the project. "I personally know a lot of cases where commuters riding on two-wheelers were injured, including my mother-in-law. I would have loved to make this app maybe three years ago, but back then it would have taken me two or three months. Now with AI, I could literally make this in just one or two days." Getting that level of accountability wasn't a one-click affair, though. Sen sat through months of painstaking data research to map out a database of 2,900 government contracts, matching specific stretches of road to the officers and contractors tasked with maintaining them. While the tool is fresh off the workbench, it's already turning heads far beyond Bengaluru. "I've been contacted by the Andhra Pradesh state government, who told me, 'We've seen the app, we've taken notice, and it's great'," Sen adds. Talking about taking this vigilante technology to other metro cities, Sen sounds positive and realistic. "I hope I can cover more cities and states, including places like Delhi. But data collection isn't easy. Once I get more support for the app, I might be able to scale it up. For now, I've absorbed all the costs myself and kept it completely free for everyone," he ends....