Skip to main content

89 million insurance telematics subscribers by 2017

According to new research by ABI Research, insurance telematics users will grow at a CAGR of 90 per cent from 1.85 million in 2010 to 89 million in 2017.
March 13, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
According to new research by 5725 ABI Research, insurance telematics users will grow at a CAGR of 90 per cent from 1.85 million in 2010 to 89 million in 2017. Dominique Bonte, group director, telematics and navigation, comments, “While insurance telematics or usage based insurance (UBI) is far from a recent phenomenon – US-based Progressive was already trialling solutions back in 2002 – a renewed interest in this market has occurred over the past two years, with an acceleration in uptake, as well as a dramatic change in the very nature of UBI, migrating from pay as you drive (PAYD) to pay how you drive (PHYD) based on continuous driver behaviour monitoring and analysis.”

UBI allows insurance vendors to establish a continuous communication and feedback channel to build brand loyalty in an increasingly competitive auto insurance market. In the same way, value-added service packages including emergency services, roadside assistance, stolen vehicle tracking, teen driver monitoring, and vehicle diagnostics are often offered.

While the de-averaged pricing model and fairness principle of UBI to treat customers as individuals and have them pay for the risks they are actually taking instead of premiums depending on inaccurate proxies such as age and gender is gaining acceptance, many barriers hindering mass market uptake are still in place: self-selection of low risk drivers, privacy, lack of understanding of complex offers, lack of historical perspective validated by statistical data, absence of standards, installation of telematics hardware, and IP litigation.    

While currently the default UBI hardware solution consists of a dedicated device plugged into the vehicle’s diagnostics OBD port, future UBI hardware solutions will increasingly be based on either factory-installed technology (as in-car connectivity penetration rates increase) or – for the aftermarket – converged devices such as smartphones wirelessly connecting to the OBD bus via Bluetooth adapters.

ABI Research’s new study, “Insurance Telematics,” covers the different solutions for insurance telematics including PAYD and PHYD across different form factors such as embedded, portable, and converged in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Rest of the World. It includes detailed descriptions of market drivers and barriers, as well as shipment, subscribers, and discount forecasts.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Young Driver scheme improving road safety
    June 25, 2012
    The Co-operative Insurance company in the UK says that new data shows that the introduction of telematics technology is leading to better driving behaviour from Britain's young road users. Intelligence gathered from the company’s 'smartbox' scheme shows that 35% are consistently showing 'excellent' driving while less than 5% demonstrate 'poor' driving habits. The Young Driver scheme, launched just over a year ago, measures driving behaviours including speed, braking and cornering. It then scores these from
  • IBM, Honda, and PG&E enable smarter charging for EVs
    April 17, 2012
    IBM has teamed with American Honda Motor Company and Pacific Gas and Electric Company on a new pilot project that will allow communication between electric vehicles (EVs) and the power grid. This project will demonstrate and test an electric vehicle's ability to receive and respond to charge instructions based on the grid condition and the vehicle's battery state. With visibility into charging patterns, energy providers will have the ability to more effectively manage charging during peak hours and create c
  • Who run the engineering world? Women!
    June 25, 2021
    To mark International Women in Engineering Day, Krishna Desai of Cubic Transportation Systems shares the experiences of female engineers working at the company...
  • US enforcement regulation to deliver clearer guidelines?
    February 2, 2012
    Jim Tuton of American Traffic Solutions looks at the evolution of automated enforcement in North America "Technological regulation will become more sophisticated at the federal level, giving states clearer guidelines" Jim Tuton In just 20 years, photo enforcement in North America has grown from a single speed camera in a small town in Arizona to thousands of photo traffic enforcement cameras which are now operating in 350 communities spread across 27 states and three Canadian provinces. Most of these p