AutoInsure1

Pay-Per-Mile Auto Insurer May Link to Driverless Car Future

Burney Simpson

I use my car about an hour a day. Why do I need to insure it for 24 hours?

That question sets the business premise for Metromile, a pay-per-mile auto insurance firm that charges fees based on the driver’s use of his or her vehicle. Metromile claims that consumers that drive less than 10,000 miles a year can save, on average, $500 annually on their insurance with its program.

Now available in California, Illinois, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, Metromile is an offshoot of the sharing or on-demand economy, as exemplified by such firms as Car2Go (a Daimler subsidiary) and transportation provider Uber. Both of them cater to consumers that don’t own cars but like to use them on an as-needed basis.

San Francisco-based Metromile may be a harbinger of the way auto insurance will be sold in the world of driverless vehicles, which some experts believe could happen within about 10 years. At that time many consumers will opt for driverless ride-sharing services where they don’t own the vehicle that gets them to work and shopping.

Presumably there will still be an occasional accident in those vehicles, and a need for insurance. After all, Google reports its driverless Koala cars have had 16 accidents during 2 million-some miles of tests.

So who is held responsible — the ‘driver’ or person sitting in the vehicle — when the accident occurs? Or is it the automaker that creates and/or installs the autonomous technology in the vehicle; or the ride-sharing firm? (Which just may be Uber.)

Accident responsibility remains an open question. But it will be interesting to watch Metromile as it attempts to navigate into the world of driverless vehicles.

METROMILE BRASS TACKS

Metromile gives its pay-per-mile costumers a free Pulse device that must be plugged into the diagnostic port (OBD-II) of their vehicle. The consumer also must download a Metromile app from either the Apple store or from Google Play. The device tracks miles traveled, and certain vehicle performance data and sends the information to the customer’s smartphone and to Metromile.

Metromile charges a monthly base rate, along with the per-mile fee. These charges depend on driver age, driving history, credit history, the vehicle and other factors. Per-mile fees stop after 150 miles a day (250 in Washington) so the customer can take an occasional long trip without getting hit with a big charge.

The Pulse doesn’t track driver behavior like hard stops or speed, according to Metromile. It does offer a mapping service and can be used to find your car. In Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco, it has even been programmed to know when street sweeping will occur so the driver can move the car before getting a ticket.

Its insurance policies are sold by Metromile Insurance Services LLC and written by insurers in the National General Insurance Group.

Seed funders NEA, Index Ventures, First Round Capital, and SV Angel put up $4 million to get Metromile started, according to a 2013 TechCrunch story. That year, another $10 million was added to the pot by existing funders along with AmTrust Ventures, Allen & Company, and Felicis Ventures.

Photo of Car Insurance by Pictures of Money, 2014.

LytxCam1

More Truck Fleets, Insurers Videotaping Their Drivers

Burney Simpson

More trucking firms and their insurers are signing up for a videotaping system that monitors truck driver behavior and San Diego-based Lytx Inc. is reaping the benefits.

Lytx reported that it added 57,000 subscriptions-in-service (SIS) to its DriveCam and RAIR Compliance Services program in 2014, and ended the year with 200,000 subscriptions and nearly 1,300 government and commercial clients. Each SIS is a vehicle using a Lytx video system.

This year, Lytx reports more than a half-dozen trucking fleets and several insurance companies have signed up for its DriveCam program, including:

  • Seattle-based MTR Western with a fleet of 160 motor coaches;
  • J&R Schugel Trucking with 450 company drivers and 150 contractor-operators;
  • Barney Trucking with 250 dry-bulk hauling tractors;
  • Aggregate Industries with 1,300 vehicles;
  • Carolina Casualty and Canal Insurance Co. began offering DriveCam to their fleet clients.

The foundation of Lytx’s DriveCam program is a small video system with multiple cameras that is mounted in the vehicle cab above the rear view mirror. Cameras focus on the driver and toward the street, recording driver behavior and street activity, according to Lytx videos.

If there’s an accident or an event like hard braking or a sharp turn occurs, the taped video is sent via wireless network to the trucking company, the firm that contracted the driver, or Lytx.

The recording can be used to determine whether the driver caused, did not cause, or helped avoid an accident or unusual event.

Lytx can also use the recording to analyze the driver’s performance during day-to-day driving, and to create a scoring system for good and bad driver behavior. Each driver then has a score that rises or falls depending on a slew of factors, from accidents, to unnecessary gas use, to texting, or other behavior the fleet operator seeks to track.

LtyxDriver1A fleet that uses the DriveCam system can use the score and the videos for driver coaching. Lytx’s Risk-Predict program tracks behavior to find the driver in a fleet that is most likely to cause an accident.

The RAIR Compliance system serves U.S. Department of Transportation-regulated fleets. It monitor driver logs, vehicle inspection reports, driver qualifications, and drug testing.

Lytx says that truck fleets that use its combined services see payback on their investment in six months due to reduced collisions and lower fuel and maintenance costs. Privately-held Lytx doesn’t release its financial results though it claims that 2014 was its third consecutive year with orders of more than $100 million. In 2013, Volvo Group Venture Capital made an undisclosed investment in Lytx, according to the San Diego Union Tribune.