Skip to main content

Fourth patent related to usage-based insurance

US company Progressive Insurance has received a fourth patent for system technologies used with its optional pay-as-you-drive insurance programme, a usage-based form of car insurance. U.S. Patent No. 8,090,598 relates, in part, to producing a driver safety score based on monitored driving data. Progressive’s usage-based insurance (UBI) scheme, Snapshot, is available in 39 US states and the District of Columbia. It creates a personalised car insurance discount based on customers’ driving habits.
March 23, 2012 Read time: 1 min
US company Progressive Insurance has received a fourth patent for system technologies used with its optional pay-as-you-drive insurance programme, a usage-based form of car insurance. U.S. Patent No. 8,090,598 relates, in part, to producing a driver safety score based on monitored driving data.

Progressive’s usage-based insurance (UBI) scheme, Snapshot, is available in 39 US states and the District of Columbia. It creates a personalised car insurance discount based on customers’ driving habits. Drivers who sign up for Snapshot receive a small device that plugs into the on-board diagnostic port of cars. The device records data from the vehicle and sends it to Progressive, which uses that data to calculate potential discounts.

“For more than 15 years we have invested a great deal into the research, development, testing and piloting of usage-based insurance programmes and will continue to do so,” said Glenn Renwick, Progressive’s president and CEO.

Related Content

  • Sampo Hietanen on MaaS: “We needed better dreams”
    March 6, 2023
    Sampo Hietanen, founder of MaaS Global, is one of the authors of the Mobility as a Service concept: the dream is still real, but MaaS needs to evolve, he insists
  • Caltrans takes the long view of transport
    October 21, 2016
    Caltrans’ Malcolm Dougherty took time out of his schedule at ITS America 2016 in San Jose to talk to ITS International about current and future challenges. As director of California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) since mid-2012, many would say that Malcolm Dougherty has one of the best jobs in transportation. Caltrans is one of the most progressive and innovative transport authorities, implementing policies to encourage cycling, piloting new
  • Platooning with Ease on the I-70
    July 15, 2025
    What would happen to truck platooning - a nascent technology - if the weather turns nasty? The I-70 Truck Automation Corridor Project in the northern US should provide some answers, reports David Arminas…
  • ITS asset management matters
    April 26, 2013
    Maintenance of on-road ITS kit needs to become more sophisticated; while new technologies can deliver better road maintenance. David Crawford investigates both sides of the issue "Good information is key to effective ITS asset maintenance,” says Ian Routledge of the Ian Routledge Consultancy (IRC), whose Imtrac (Information Management for TRAffic Control) system is poised for European expansion. Developed as an ‘intelligent filing cabinet’ for storing information about on-road equipment, the online database