Octo Telematics Reaches Milestone, Connects 5 Million Cars

author: Eric Walz   

On Thursday 25th May, 2017 Octo Telematics announced that five million cars are now connected to the Octo Telematics platform across the globe, a 25% increase since 2016.

Octo is the number one global provider of telematics and data analytics solutions for the auto insurance industry. Founded in 2002, Octo is one of the early pioneers of the insurance telematics industry. The company has grown to be the largest telematics company in the world, transforming auto insurance through behavioral, contextual and driving analytics for more than 60 insurance partners, including Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, and GM.

Octo Telematics has five million connected users and the largest global database of telematics data, with over 155 billion miles of driving data collected and 397,000 crashes and insurance events analyzed (as of April 2017).

The company is headquartered in London, with offices in Boston, Rome, Stuttgart, Madrid, and Sao Paulo.

To mark the global milestone, Octo drove connected cars around London, Rome and Boston, collecting and analyzing the telematics data from each trip to demonstrate the importance of safe driving to cut insurance costs and improve road safety. This data analyzed every aspect of driving behavior, including acceleration, how much a driver brakes while cornering, direction of travel, distance, and other important vehicle data.

An Octo Connected Car in Boston to Celebrate the Milestone

Octo applies proprietary algorithms to this market-leading database to deliver powerful new insights into driver risk, informing solutions that benefit both auto insurance companies and policyholders.

Using these algorithms, information collected from a vehicle's on-board diagnostic port can be used to determine an individual's driving style. Aggressive drivers or safe, law-abiding drivers can be identified. With this valuable information, insurance companies can offer more personalized insurance premiums. For example, a safe driver may receive a discount, while and aggressive driver may see their premiums increase.

Additionally, the data Octo collects can be used to prevent insurance fraud, by knowing the speed, direction, time, and location of a vehicle prior to an accident. The data collected can then be used to reconstruct an accident scene.

Telematics Policy Growth

The global telematics industry is rapidly growing. Globally, there are around 12 million telematics insurance policies according to the Ptolemus Usage-Based Insurance Global Report 2016, which predicts growth to nearly 100 million policies worldwide by 2020. The same report expects nearly 50% of the world's vehicles to be insured with telematics-based policies by 2030.

Fabio Sbianchi, CEO, Octo Telematics said:  "Consumers are becoming more aware of the value of paying their own bill, rather than being charged premiums according to categories such as age, location or assumed mileage. Insurers are also looking for ways to work more closely with their customers and increase loyalty. These conditions, added to the rapid rise of insurance premiums, are perfectly suited to telematics and Octo's great growth over the last year is a reflection of these strong conditions."

Connected Cars

Telematics is the driving force behind connecting everyday vehicles to the internet and the ongoing development of driverless cars. Sales of connected car products are expected to increase almost four times between 2015 and 2020, adding more than $149 billion in revenues in the passenger car segment alone. With insurance premiums soaring and the cost of driving rising steadily, telematics can save drivers up to 30% on their premiums, based on their safe behavior on the roads.

Vehicles are becoming increasingly sophisticated Internet of Things (IoT) devices in their own right and the software and sensors currently utilised in telematics are facilitating this. It is the transmission and receipt of the same data that is used in usage-based insurance (UBI) policies that will help keep driverless cars moving and plugged into safer, smarter cities of the future.

Andrew Lee, Head of Market Intelligence and Analysis, Octo Telematics said:  "While true driverless cars may be some way off, the technology for them is available now. Modern cars are being manufactured with a high degree of connectivity which will provide an increasing number of financial benefits to motorists. We are constantly looking at developing our telematics offering, including not only increased device and sensor sophistication, but also how we are able to analyze and use the data to transform the transport experience."

Eric Walz

Originally hailing from New Jersey, Eric is a automotive & technology reporter covering the high-tech industry here in Silicon Valley. He has over 15 years of automotive experience and a bachelors degree in computer science. These skills, combined with technical writing and news reporting, allows him to fully understand and identify new and innovative technologies in the auto industry and beyond. He has worked at Uber on self-driving cars and as a technical writer, helping people to understand and work with technology.