Allstate Patent Application Speeds Towards More Data Driven Insurance

Allstate has reportedly filed a patent application for technology that would allow a telematics-based driving assessment in real time. While Allstate has aimed this technology at insurers to allow them to better evaluate the risk associated with a customer (or potential customer), it has also noted in the application that this information may be of interest to a broader set of organizations who wish to predict someone’s behaviour. 

Aspects of the patent “provide effective, efficient, scalable, and convenient technical solutions that address and overcome the technical problems associated with driving assessment systems”. Allstate’s solution uses an onboard computer which collects data from sensors within the vehicle, which then sends this data to a secondary device. The secondary device then analyzes the data to create a “behaviour score” for each driving session. Types of data used by the system to generate the behaviour score include speed (including whether the vehicle has driven over the speed limit and for how long), vehicle location, and the number of times the vehicle had to brake over a particular trip. Allstate notes that the behaviour score can be used to “categorize the driver based on the likelihood of being involved in an accident and determine and/or identify an insurance policy”.

Allstate may aim to implement this system in its two usage-based insurance programs, Drivewise and Milewise, which “allow customers to share their driving information and deliver personalized feedback that gives them more control over their auto insurance costs and encourages safe driving”. 

This patent application also furthers Allstate’s goals for more data driven insurance ratings, as exemplified by its subsidiary Arity, an analytics company that is developing a rating services organization. The company has reportedly stated that, between its own data and that purchased from outside the company, “we’re pulling data on a 100 million cars per day right now”.