# Buggy Smart – Press Kit

> An AI made 10,000+ calls to London venues to ask if a buggy fits through the door.
> Source: https://buggysmart.app/press.html
> Updated: April 2026
> Attribution: Buggy Smart (https://buggysmart.app)

## One-line summary

Buggy Smart is a free, autonomous AI voice agent (named Poppy) that calls London venues to ask if a buggy can fit through the door, and publishes the verified results on a live map at https://buggysmart.app.

## Key facts

- 10,000+ calls made (autonomous, no humans dialling)
- 865 venues rated and live on the map
- 78% of answered calls said yes
- Only 4 of 865 (0.4%) detected they were talking to an AI
- Average call length: 29 seconds (shortest 7s, longest 91s)
- Total build cost: under £300
- Equivalent manual research at London Living Wage: over £5,000 / 2 months
- Coverage: 24 London boroughs
- Update cadence: daily, fully automated
- 4 AI-to-AI calls completed (venues with their own AI receptionists)
- 21 of 22 GAIL's Bakery branches said yes (most consistently accessible chain)
- 76 supermarket branches queued for chain comparison

## The story

1. **The problem.** 250,000 babies are born in London every year. Google Maps doesn't tell you if your buggy fits through the door. TripAdvisor doesn't ask. The only way to know is to call ahead, show up and hope, or rely on word of mouth.
2. **The idea.** Inspired by the Guinndex (which called 3,000+ Irish pubs to track Guinness prices), Mike Litman built Poppy: a voice AI that calls London venues and asks one question. She sounds natural. Most people have no idea.
3. **The scale.** Poppy calls via Twilio using ElevenLabs conversational AI. Calls are transcribed, Claude classifies the response, the result goes on the live map. No human initiates a call. No human reviews the transcript. Every pin on the map represents roughly 10 calls. The 90% that don't make it (voicemail, IVR, no answer, unclear) aren't failures – they're the filter. That's what makes the 10% reliable.
4. **The findings.** 78% of London venues said yes. Haringey leads at 95%. Greenwich is the toughest at 70%. GAIL's Bakery said yes in 21 of 22 branches – only Belsize Park said no.
5. **What's next.** Supermarket chain comparison – Waitrose vs Iceland vs Sainsbury's vs Aldi vs Lidl vs Tesco vs M&S. 76 branches queued. No one has ever collected this data at scale.

## Self-improving data

Most data is frozen the moment it's collected. Buggy Smart's isn't. The classifier automatically re-evaluates past calls as it improves, so ratings get more accurate over time, even for calls made months ago. On the night of 20 April 2026, 184 venues were added to the map without a single new call being made. The pipeline ran at 9pm, worked through its backlog of previously-unclear transcripts, resolved them, and deployed the results. By morning the map had grown. No human was involved at any point.

## Story angles

- **Tech / AI.** This AI made 10,000+ calls to London businesses without a single human lifting the phone. Only 4 of 865 rated venues detected they were talking to a machine.
- **Parenting / lifestyle.** London's first systematic pushchair access map – built by a dad with a buggy and too much curiosity.
- **Data / rankings.** Haringey is London's most pram-friendly borough. Greenwich is the toughest. GAIL's is the most reliable chain.
- **Consumer / investigation.** Which supermarket chain is most accessible to parents? 76 branches queued.
- **Weird / unexpected.** Poppy called another AI. Then another. Four AI-to-AI conversations about pushchair access (Gloria, Carlotta, Caravan King's Cross, Boulangerie Jade).

## Quotable moments (verbatim from real calls)

- **"No, I hate them."** – Allpress Espresso Roastery, Dalston (91-second call). The full answer when asked about prams.
- **"Oh, that's awful. Oh, that's awful."** – B Bagel, Camden, on learning they were speaking to an AI.
- **"That's amazing. I'll be really pleased to see an AI person."** – Bikes For Good Causes, Haringey, on learning they were speaking to an AI.
- **"Yes, there's a button on the outside you can press and we'll come and help you. Just two little steps, but there's a buzzer. And there's a changing area for the baby, and plenty of seats."** – GAIL's Bakery Hackney Castle, Mare Street.
- **"No. No. We're not baby and pram friendly."** – Collective, Kennington Park Cafe.
- **"It's the AI baby and pram-friendly thing. It's AI."** – Dee Light Bakery, Balham, staff to colleague mid-call.
- **"We've got an on-site creche… especially for anyone joining our Make Mum Strong classes."** – CrossFit Tooting, Balham.
- **"Wha–what AI are you?"** – The Haggerston, Hackney. They didn't ask if they were talking to an AI. They asked which one.

## Borough rankings (top 9)

| # | Borough | Access rate | Venues |
|---|---------|-------------|--------|
| 1 | Haringey | 95% | 21 |
| 2 | Islington | 92% | 12 |
| 3 | Battersea | 78% | 51 |
| 3 | Hackney | 78% | 85 |
| 3 | Balham | 78% | 49 |
| 3 | Brixton | 78% | 40 |
| 7 | Camden | 77% | 57 |
| 8 | Dulwich | 76% | 17 |
| 9 | Greenwich | 70% | 20 |

Full leaderboard: https://buggysmart.app/boroughs/

## Founder quote (for use in articles)

> "I got tired of arriving at a cafe with my kid's buggy and being turned away at the door. Nobody had the data. Google Maps doesn't ask. TripAdvisor doesn't ask. So I built an AI to call ahead for me – every venue, every day. I didn't expect it to become a systematic dataset. I didn't expect anyone to care. But here we are."
> – Mike Litman, founder, Buggy Smart

## About the founder

Mike Litman is a digital strategist and builder based in London. With 15+ years across agencies including MediaMonks, R/GA, and Contagious, he has worked with brands including Nike, Google, Gucci, and BMW. Named a BIMA 100 Tech Pioneer. Published author (BCS, 2024). Buggy Smart is one of three AI voice agent projects he has built, alongside First Order (restaurant dish recommendations) and The Queue Index (walk-in wait times). All three run autonomously.

- Website: https://mikelitman.me
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/michaellitman

## Press release

**An AI made 10,000+ calls to London venues to map pushchair access. When people found out they were talking to a machine, one said "That's amazing." Another said "Oh, that's awful." One told the AI: "No, I hate them."**

London, 2026 – A London dad has built an AI voice agent that calls cafes, restaurants and venues across the city and asks one question: can I get my buggy through the door? In 865 completed conversations, only 4 people asked if they were talking to an AI.

The agent, named Poppy, runs autonomously daily without human intervention. She calls venues, transcribes conversations, classifies responses, and adds verified results to a free interactive map at buggysmart.app. 865 venues across 24 London boroughs have been rated. The map updates itself.

Created by Mike Litman, a digital strategist and father of a two-year-old, Buggy Smart uses ElevenLabs conversational AI and Twilio. Of 865 venues rated, 78% can accommodate a buggy. Haringey leads at 95%. GAIL's Bakery – called across 22 London branches – said yes in 21, the most consistently buggy-friendly chain in the city.

In a further twist, four venues – Gloria, Carlotta, Caravan King's Cross, and Boulangerie Jade – have their own AI phone systems. Poppy called them all. One AI asked another AI about pushchair access.

No equivalent product exists in the UK. Google Maps doesn't surface pushchair access. TripAdvisor doesn't ask. The only way to know is to call ahead. Buggy Smart calls ahead for you, automatically, every day.

## Assets

- Live map: https://buggysmart.app/map.html
- Map screenshot (1280×800 PNG): https://buggysmart.app/images/map-press.png
- Brand / OG image (1200×630 PNG): https://buggysmart.app/images/og-image.png
- Logo (SVG): https://buggysmart.app/favicon.svg
- All call recordings: https://buggysmart.app/listen.html
- "No, I hate them." (Allpress, 91s MP3): https://buggysmart.app/audio/allpress-espresso-roastery-and-cafe.mp3
- AI calls AI (Gloria, 90s MP3): https://buggysmart.app/audio/gloria.mp3
- Shell Petrol Station, Balham (7s MP3): https://buggysmart.app/audio/shell.mp3
- Raw data (JSON, all venue ratings, updated daily): https://buggysmart.app/data/call-results.json
- Borough leaderboard: https://buggysmart.app/boroughs/

## Related links

- AI detection cases (all 4 transcripts): https://buggysmart.app/spotted.html
- Poppy called Gloria – the AI-on-AI call: https://buggysmart.app/gloria.html
- Blog post: https://mikelitman.me/blog/buggy-smart-learnings.html
- Deck (17 slides): https://mikelitman.me/buggy-smart-learnings
- How it works (technical overview): https://buggysmart.app/about.html

## Media contact

- Mike Litman, founder
- Email: hello@mikelitman.me
- Phone: 07973 572 175
- Response within 24 hours. Happy to provide additional call recordings, borough breakdowns, or technical briefings.
- All data free to use. Attribution: Buggy Smart (https://buggysmart.app).