A SaferDrive founder Nigel Lines, of Bannockburn, has been working on the initiative for about six years and hopes the programme can be launched by the end of this year.
It has the support of government agencies including the New Zealand Transport Agency and insurance and rental car companies.
Mr Lines said the interactive programme would educate overseas drivers before they arrived in New Zealand and continue to educate them via a smartphone or android app as they travelled through the country.
At an inquest in Queenstown last week before designated coroner Richard McElrea, of Christchurch, NZTA transport officers manager Dermot Harris was asked about an online petition being spearheaded by 9-year-old Sean Roberts, the son of Grant John Roberts (43), of Timaru, killed after a rental car driven by Chinese national Kejia Zheng (20) collided with his motorcycle on the Lindis Pass in November 2012.
Also killed was Dennis Michael Pederson (54), of Tauranga.
Investigations found Zheng had ''negligible'' driving experience at the time of the crash. Mr Harris told the inquest establishing a compulsory test for foreign drivers would see New Zealand contravening the United Nations Convention on Road Traffic, signed by New Zealand in Geneva in 1949, which could have implications for New Zealand drivers wishing to drive overseas.
Mr Lines told the Otago Daily Times that because his initiative was not compulsory, it would not contravene the UN Convention.
The venture would see A SaferDrive linked to rental car company websites - anyone hiring a vehicle online would be offered the chance to gain ''A SaferDrive Approval'', an online test to be written by NZTA. If they passed and gained approval at the point of hire, they would be offered a lower insurance rate.
Mr Lines said with customers registering online, A SaferDrive would also get ''a bit of an idea'' of their itinerary.
Smartphones - enabling GPS tracking - carrying the multilingual app would be fitted to every rental car and would send text messages to the occupants of the vehicle regularly.
The messages would include reminders to ''stay left'' when a vehicle was turned on; warning them of high crash areas as they approached and advising them to ''slow down''.
The entire service would be free, he said.
''We want to do something to give back ... we want our roads to be safe.''
An NZTA spokeswoman told the Otago Daily Times the agency believed it was a ''very promising initiative''.
