Amid all the excitement and fanfare of the new iPhone 6 comes a new version of Apple’s motion co-processor, which promises to make for better smartphone usage-based insurance.
With the new iPhone 6 comes a new version of Apple's motion co-processor called the M8. The M8 adds new features such as barometer to measure pressure differences for elevation tracking. It also has better features to tell the difference between driving a car, riding a bike and running.
And it is that kind of granular information that can only make usage-based insurance software like DriveSmart even better, says Andrew Lo, Chief Marketing Officer, Kanetix.
“All of the technology in Apple’s motion co-processor, the M8, is for measuring your activity as you carry your phone around,” Lo told Insurance Business. “It is designed to track your health; but at Kanetix, we’ve been playing with another thing, and that is to use that co-processor and apply it to usage-based insurance.”
The M8 chip from the iPhone 6 will enable deeper analysis of driving patterns to help drivers improve their skills, says Lo, and give insurance companies the data needed to provide lower insurance rates.
The Kanetix app, DriveSmart, which runs on the iPhone5 and 6, will benefit from the new co-processor tracking capabilities – and the lower power consumption.
“We think it is a great alternative to adding an additional device into your car and having insurers pay for that additional air time,” says Lo. “It can use the power of everything the iPhone provides, and use it for usage-based insurance.”
According to Lo, consumer buy-in on telematics should be made much easier through smartphones.
“Measuring driving activity on the smartphone, more people are going to use that compared to other solutions,” he says. “There is a desire for telematics. We did a study, and it showed that people felt they would be better drivers if they had this type of monitoring.”
