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

  • Unisys helps Queensland identify driver licence applicants
    September 18, 2019
    The Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) in Australia has chosen Unisys to provide facial image processing technology for the state’s smart card driver licences.
  • New technology revolution in urban traffic control?
    January 26, 2012
    Urban traffic control is a well-defined and practised art. Nevertheless, there are technologies here and on the horizon with the potential to revolutionise how we do things. By Gavin Jackman and Andrew Kirkham, TRL, and Jason Barnes. Distributed monitoring and control of urban traffic networks and flows is nothing new. PC-based Urban Traffic Control (UTC) is now well established and operating in many locations around the world. However, it is worth considering the effects of the huge growth in the use of sm
  • Enterprise-friendly tablet from DAP Technologies
    March 1, 2013
    The new lightweight MT1010 Windows tablet from DAP Technologies blends a large touch-screen with enterprise-friendly qualities including seamless Windows integration and multiple I/O ports for con­necting to peripherals. The Windows operating system enables the tablet to be integrated into existing net­works and its rugged magnesi­um-alloy construction is built to survive heavy use in challenging environments. The 10.1-inch, sunlight-viewable touch-screen supports both handheld and vehicle-mounted use, and
  • Autonomous vehicles will not hit UK roads for over a decade, says PA Consulting Group
    September 29, 2017
    PA Consulting Group's latest research on autonomous vehicles (AVs) suggests that despite much hype, they are more than 10 years away from being a common sight on UK roads. PA's findings revealed that while progress is being made around technology, the rest of the ecosystem to support driverless cars - for example regulation, insurance, compliance, roads, users - still needs a lot of development. The recent launch of the Government's MERIDIAN scheme progressed plans for CAV technology development in th