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by GeertB 2486 days ago
This is the right model for insurance: the potential reduction of claims incentivizes the car manufacturer to make cars safer and less expensive to repair.

Flip side: from its telemetry, Tesla can derive how safely you drive your car and adjust premiums accordingly. Is this good or bad?

3 comments

For one, that would be illegal in California. Outside of that, as long as it was opt-in, I think it would be appropriate. Progressive at least has been doing this for almost a decade.
What does opt-in mean here? You are still free to insure your Tesla with other insurance providers like Progressive or Geico.

Metromile tracked my vehicle's speed in their app using their ODB dongle. The only way I could opt out of them knowing about my 101 MPH joyrides on the 101 was by choosing a different insurance company.

For what it's worth, they say they don't use or record driving data for their insurance.
It's good. Incentivises people to drive safer.
Following the law strictly != safer.

In some countries, if I'd obey the law 1:1 I'd definitely be in a crash of some sort.

Bending the law, was the reason I always got home safe.

This will probably be the toughest part for full automation to figure out unless we lived in an Utopia.

In a comedic way, it would be cool if the car could analyze the driving style of the other cars in traffic and change its own behavior accordingly to blend in while still obeying the law somehow. It would make driving from Sweden to Soutern Italy really fun.

Agreed, but presumably insurance companies wouldn't be looking at whether you followed the law, they would be looking at whether you drove safely to the extent that such a difference matters.