EthyloKey on TF1: Meet Founders Jaime & Julie

If you recently saw EthyloKey on TF1 and wondered what it was, who created it, or how alcohol can be detected through a fingertip, this is our story.

EthyloKey is a touch-based alcohol detector developed by the French deep-tech company ETHYLOWHEEL, founded by Jaime Alonso and Julie Bruguière. Instead of blowing into a traditional breathalyzer, EthyloKey uses skin contact to detect ethanol released through the skin and provides a simple green, orange or red indicative result.

In 2026, our story reached a much wider audience through French national television, first with our appearance on Qui veut être mon associé ? on M6, and later through a feature on TF1 in Entrepreneurs, nouvelle génération.

Behind those television appearances is a story that started years earlier: two founders, a scientific idea, years of research and development, a hardware company built at STATION F in Paris and one ambition — to create a new and simpler gesture for alcohol awareness.

Jaime Alonso and Julie Bruguière, founders of ETHYLOWHEEL, featured on TF1.

Watch EthyloKey and ETHYLOWHEEL on TF1

The TF1 feature tells the story of Jaime Alonso and Julie Bruguière, the two founders behind ETHYLOWHEEL and EthyloKey.

The segment follows the journey from the original student idea to the development of a new touch-based alcohol detection technology and, eventually, EthyloKey.

Much of the feature was filmed at STATION F in Paris, where ETHYLOWHEEL has been based since September 2025.

It started with one simple question

Before EthyloKey existed, there was a problem we wanted to solve.

Alcohol-related road risk has been discussed for decades. Breathalyzers already exist, yet testing before getting into a car has never really become an everyday reflex for most people.

While still a student, Jaime Alonso began exploring a different approach: could alcohol awareness become easier, more portable and more naturally integrated into everyday life?

And more specifically:

What if you could detect alcohol simply by touching a sensor with your finger?

That question became the starting point for ETHYLOWHEEL.

Place here the TF1 frame showing the fingertip interaction, the sensing technology or the early EthyloKey concept.

From a student idea to ETHYLOWHEEL

Jaime and Julie met during their studies, long before ETHYLOWHEEL became a company.

Jaime wanted to build technology around a major societal challenge and began developing the first concept behind skin-contact alcohol detection. Julie later joined the adventure, bringing her own scientific and business experience to the project.

Together, they began transforming an experimental idea into a technology platform.

The objective was never simply to redesign a traditional breathalyzer.

We wanted to create a new gesture: touch-based alcohol detection.

Support from the French road-safety ecosystem during the early stages helped transform what began as a student project into a genuine entrepreneurial venture.

Then came years of prototypes, sensors, electronics, testing, algorithms and product development.

Meet Jaime Alonso and Julie Bruguière, the founders of ETHYLOWHEEL

Jaime Alonso — Co-founder & CEO

Jaime Alonso is the co-founder and CEO of ETHYLOWHEEL and one of the inventors behind the technology used in EthyloKey.

With a scientific and engineering background, he initiated the project while studying and began investigating whether ethanol-related signals could be detected through contact with the skin rather than through breath.

That original idea ultimately became the technological foundation behind EthyloKey.

Connect with Jaime Alonso on LinkedIn.

Julie Bruguière — Co-founder & Managing Director

Julie Bruguière is the co-founder and Managing Director of ETHYLOWHEEL.

Julie joined the project during its early development and has helped transform the scientific concept into a company, a physical product and an industrial project.

Today, Jaime and Julie lead ETHYLOWHEEL together across product development, industrialization, partnerships, international expansion and the future development of the technology.

Connect with Julie Bruguière on LinkedIn.

Use here a strong TF1 screenshot of Jaime and Julie together inside STATION F, preferably in a natural interview or working moment.

Building ETHYLOWHEEL at STATION F in Paris

In September 2025, ETHYLOWHEEL joined STATION F in Paris, which has since become an important part of our daily life as founders and of the EthyloKey story.

It is where we continue building the company, working on the product, preparing industrial scale-up and developing the next stages of the technology.

Many people naturally associate startup campuses with software companies.

But EthyloKey is also a reminder that hardware is being built at STATION F too.

EthyloKey combines physical product design, sensors, electronics, embedded systems, wireless connectivity, machine learning and software.

Building it means moving constantly between code, prototypes, testing, manufacturing, quality control and product development.

So when viewers saw Jaime and Julie working from STATION F during the TF1 feature, there was also a slightly playful message behind those images:

Who said STATION F was only about software?

For us, it is also a place where a French hardware and deep-tech startup can prepare a physical product for international scale.

Before TF1: EthyloKey on “Qui veut être mon associé ?” on M6

TF1 was not the first time the EthyloKey story reached a national television audience.

In January 2026, Jaime Alonso and Julie Bruguière presented ETHYLOWHEEL and EthyloKey on the French television program Qui veut être mon associé ? on M6.

The appearance brought the technology and its road-safety mission to a large mainstream audience.

Chef Yannick Alléno joined us during the program to support the project and the prevention mission behind EthyloKey.

For us, the significance of that moment went far beyond television exposure.

After years spent developing the technology largely behind the scenes, millions of viewers were suddenly discovering the idea we had been working on:

using a simple fingertip interaction to create a new alcohol-awareness reflex.

From M6 to TF1 — and from STATION F to a wider audience

Our appearances on Qui veut être mon associé ? on M6 and later on TF1 represent another stage in the ETHYLOWHEEL journey.

For years, most of our work happened where deep-tech projects usually begin: laboratories, prototypes, electronics, algorithms, testing and industrial design.

Today, much of that journey continues from STATION F in Paris.

Television changed the scale of the conversation.

Suddenly, EthyloKey was no longer something understood only by engineers, researchers, automotive companies or early adopters.

Families, young drivers, consumers and people who had never heard of transdermal alcohol detection were discovering the concept too.

That growing media exposure matters for what comes next.

Our goal is not simply for people to remember the name EthyloKey.

We want people to understand the gesture behind it: place a finger on a sensor and gain an additional indication of alcohol exposure.

The more familiar that gesture becomes, the closer we get to our original vision.

After years of R&D, EthyloKey was born

Turning the initial concept into a physical product required years of research and development.

The result is EthyloKey: a compact device designed to live on a keychain and provide an alcohol indication through fingertip contact.

There is no mouthpiece and nothing to blow into.

When a finger is placed on the sensing surface, EthyloKey analyzes ethanol released through the skin together with additional signals such as temperature and humidity.

A proprietary classification model then produces one of three indicative ranges: green, orange or red.

EthyloKey does not display an exact BAC value and is not a legal or evidential alcohol test. It is designed as a personal prevention and awareness device.

You can discover how EthyloKey works or visit our EthyloKey FAQ.

Use here the clearest close-up of EthyloKey from the TF1 report, ideally showing the device and fingertip interaction.

What is touch-based alcohol detection?

Traditional personal alcohol testing is most commonly associated with breath analysis.

EthyloKey explores another signal: ethanol released through the skin.

This broader field is known as transdermal alcohol detection. Different approaches have been researched using different parts of the body, sensing technologies and measurement methods.

EthyloKey applies this principle to an on-demand fingertip interaction.

It is not a continuous alcohol-monitoring wearable: the user actively places a finger on the device when they want to perform a test.

For a deeper explanation of the technology, read our guide to transdermal alcohol detection and skin alcohol sensing.

From early prototypes to more than 2,000 EthyloKeys

What began as an experimental idea has now moved far beyond our first laboratory prototypes.

More than 2,000 people backed EthyloKey through our crowdfunding campaign, with supporters across dozens of countries.

That transition matters enormously to us.

We did not want EthyloKey to remain a demonstration of what might technically be possible.

We wanted to turn years of research into a real object that people could actually carry with them.

That means developing the sensing technology and machine-learning models, but also electronics, firmware, industrial design, manufacturing, quality control, charging, connectivity and all the less visible work required to bring a deep-tech hardware product into production.

Made in France, with ambitions beyond the keychain

EthyloKey is Made in France, but the long-term vision behind ETHYLOWHEEL goes beyond a single keychain.

From the beginning, we have been developing touch-based sensing as a broader technology platform.

One of our ambitions is to eventually integrate this kind of interaction directly into mobility environments and vehicles, removing even more friction between the user and the act of checking.

The keychain puts the technology into people's hands today.

The longer-term vision is to make alcohol awareness increasingly simple, accessible and naturally integrated into everyday life.

What comes next for EthyloKey?

Our appearances on M6 and TF1 are milestones, not an endpoint.

The next chapter is about scale.

After years of R&D, ETHYLOWHEEL is moving into industrial production, putting EthyloKey into the hands of its first users and continuing to develop the technology for broader consumer, business and mobility applications.

From our base at STATION F in Paris, we are also preparing the next phase of international growth.

Our ambition is to bring EthyloKey to more people across Europe, North America and beyond while continuing to work with automotive, mobility and prevention partners.

Television has allowed many more people to discover our story.

Production now allows us to turn that awareness into something tangible.

And the technology itself is only at the beginning of what we believe it can become.

“Our ambition is for this gesture to become universal.”

The final message of our TF1 story summarizes much of what Jaime and Julie have been working toward:

“Our ambition is for this gesture to become universal.”

The gesture itself is simple:

place a finger on a sensor.

Behind it are years of R&D, multiple generations of prototypes, hardware engineering, sensing technologies, data and machine learning.

But technology only matters if people actually adopt it.

Our goal with EthyloKey is therefore bigger than creating another alcohol-detection device.

We want to help create a new everyday reflex around alcohol awareness.

Place here the closing TF1 frame around the “universal gesture” message or the strongest final shot of Jaime, Julie and EthyloKey.

Did you discover EthyloKey on TF1 or M6?

If you searched for EthyloKey after seeing us on TF1, discovered ETHYLOWHEEL on Qui veut être mon associé ?, saw us working from STATION F, or searched for Jaime Alonso or Julie Bruguière after one of our television appearances, welcome.

EthyloKey is the first consumer product built around our touch-based alcohol-detection technology.

And this is still only the beginning.

From a student idea to STATION F, M6 and TF1, and from our first prototypes to industrial production, we are still pursuing the same vision: making a simple gesture capable of changing the way people think about alcohol awareness.

About ETHYLOWHEEL, EthyloKey and STATION F

ETHYLOWHEEL is a French deep-tech and hardware startup founded by Jaime Alonso and Julie Bruguière.

Based at STATION F in Paris since September 2025, the company develops touch-based sensing technology and is behind EthyloKey, a Made-in-France fingertip alcohol detector designed for personal prevention and awareness.

EthyloKey combines hardware, embedded electronics, sensing technology, machine learning and connected software to create a new interaction for alcohol awareness.

EthyloKey provides a green, orange or red indicative alcohol range rather than an exact BAC value. It is not a certified legal alcohol test and does not determine whether someone is fit to drive. Always follow local laws and never drive if in doubt.

EthyloKey on TF1: Meet the Founders