This Maryland startup helps drivers avoid overpaying tow companies

This story was produced with support from the Howard County Economic Development Authority, which operates the Maryland Innovation Center and helps entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes access the funding, guidance, and connections they need to grow in Howard County, Maryland.

As a Delaware state trooper, Chase Lawson made plenty of tow truck calls. Along the way, he noticed how easily drivers could get stuck. Not just on the road, but with unfair towing practices.

Most cars get towed by third-party contractors under police orders, but there’s not a whole lot of oversight in how it’s done. 

“When I was a police officer, I saw varying degrees of professionalism in that industry… it really was a blindspot,” Lawson said. 

Five years after retiring as a police officer, he cofounded Appellate Technologies. The Howard County, Maryland-based startup takes its name from the secondary court review process, to bring more transparency to towing. Its signature product, ASTRO, is a software suite Lawson calls “the Uber for police towing.” His initial target customers include local police departments, with the aim of making things easier for everyone involved — including the car owner.

Here’s how it works: 

1. Through ASTRO, an officer submits a towing request
2. The app automatically dispatches a nearby tow partner
3. The vehicle owner receives text updates with their car’s location
4. The towing company documents the vehicle’s condition in the app (with photos) and notes any damage
5. The towing company generates an invoice, which is shared with both the owner and the local police department

The platform also shares information with local consumer protection agencies. A key goal of ASTRO is to ensure towing companies comply with state and local pricing laws. Many drivers get taken advantage of simply because they don’t know the local regulations, Lawson said. 

“When a county or state regulates the pricing, they don’t have any means to see if the tow companies are actually charging that price,” Lawson said. “And the general public isn’t necessarily informed surrounding specific tow bills that were passed 10, 15, 20 years ago.” 

Walmart as a customer? It tows thousands of cars

Appellate’s first customer is the Castle Shannon Police Department in Western Pennsylvania, and the startup is in discussions with agencies in its home base of Howard County as well as in West Virginia.

The company recently joined the 10-week Fuel Accelerator program in Bentonville, Arkansas, where Lawson plans to explore how AI can further streamline towing dispatch and help identify predatory practices.

He also sees how ASTRO could be used by private sector businesses that need to tow vehicles. 

“Walmart has 5,600 locations. They tow vehicles from every single one,” Lawson said.  “There’s currently not a robust structure that allows information to flow back to the home office so they can effectively screen and select vendors and then address complaints or issues if they do arise.”

Most of Appellate’s funding has come from angel investors who are also stakeholders in other public safety technology companies, including Flock Safety, a video surveillance firm, and Utility, an officer body camera company.

Venture capitalists have recently shown increased interest in law enforcement technology, with startups in the sector raising twice as much funding by July 2025 as they did in all of 2024.

“[Law enforcement] wasn’t necessarily embracing different types of tools that private industry was 10 or 15 years ago,” Lawson said. “That’s all radically changed, which is fantastic for public safety.”