OnStar to Offer Driver Performance Feedback This Year: GM
"We are looking beyond traditional expectations of car makers and insurance providers, toward helping people be smarter drivers," said Dave Pratt, general manager of usage-based insurance at Progressive Insurance, which is involved in the new program..
Beginning in summer 2015, General Motors' OnStar, LLC subsidiary will let customers sign up for a new service that can tell them how well they drive and allow some of them to get discounts from Progressive Insurance, GM announced Jan. 4. Described as a new connected vehicle service, the program will provide a detailed driving assessment at the end of a 90-day evaluation period to OnStar customers who sign up for it. The company's announcement said the assessment "will reveal how the customer performed in important driving metrics, comparing that customer against an aggregate of other anonymous enrolled customers. Driving tips will be provided by OnStar based on a customer's individual assessment characteristics. After the assessment, some customers can choose to share their driving data and evaluation information with Progressive through its Snapshot® program, potentially leading to discounted insurance offers. This information sharing will be entirely voluntary following advanced consent from customers."
"The driver assessment is meant to help people better understand how they drive and give them feedback on how to be better, smarter drivers," said Greg Ross, GM's director of Business Development and Alliances, Global Connected Consumer Experience. "This is the first time we can use actual driving behavior to deliver valuable important feedback to customers who want this information. This new service truly shows the power of the connected car. The beauty of this program is that control is in the hands of the customer. If they wish to participate, we'll inform them of their driving behavior, and then they're able to choose if they want to share their information with Progressive."
The announcement said Progressive® Insurance is the first insurance company that will use OnStar data to evaluate actual driving behavior, subject to explicit customer consent, and then offer driving-based insurance discounts. "We are looking beyond traditional expectations of car makers and insurance providers, toward helping people be smarter drivers," said Dave Pratt, general manager of usage-based insurance at Progressive. "Providing drivers with feedback benefits consumers by making them more aware of their driving behavior, saving them money and keeping the roads safer. This program makes it easier than ever for consumers to take advantage of the latest in-car technology and the leading usage-based insurance program."
GM said the smart driver assessment program is expected to be available for all 2016 GM models, most 2015 models, and select 2013 and 2014 models, starting this summer, and it is only expected to be available for U.S. drivers at this time. While OnStar customers already can get low-mileage discount offers through other insurance companies, those programs "do not require the collection or use of driver assessment data."