On April 10, 2018, Agency Checklists published an interview the Co-Founder of the company, Professor Hari Balakrishnan: “Cambridge Mobile Telematics: “See Why It Is A Driving Force In the Telematics Industry.”
The interview gave Agency Checklists, and its readers, a fascinating view of a technology whose time seems to have arrived. The London-based SoftBank Vision Fund, an almost $100 billion venture fund, has seemed to agree. On December 19, 2018, it announced that it was investing $500 million in Cambridge Mobile Telematics.
Cambridge Mobile Telematics or “CMT”, offers smartphone apps that accurately measure driving performance for insurance pricing, offer incentives to improve driving quality, and lower operating costs and insurance claims by reducing crash rates and automating some claims processing functions.
The investment to spur CMT’s DriveWell platform for measuring driver risk
This investment will accelerate the adoption of CMT’s successful DriveWell platform used by insurers, fleets, wireless carriers, and other entities to measure driving risk and improve driver safety. It will also fuel CMT’s growth in automated crash and claims management, video analytics, and safety for emerging vehicle and mobility systems. The investment is subject to regulatory approval.
CMT, Softbank believes, “is breaking new ground in the application of telematics, machine learning, and behavioral analytics to solve challenging problems in insurance and safety,” is
Insurers already using CMT’s DriveWell Platform
In his interview with Agency Checklists, Dr. Balakrishnan mentioned local auto carriers, Arbella, Plymouth Rock, and Liberty Mutual, as customers of CMT. However, CMT also counts State Farm, Desjardins, Discovery, Admiral, MS&AD Group, QBE, AIG, and Insurance Australia Group, among its growing global customer base. With these carriers and its other customers, CMT’s DriveWell platform already counts several million users.
Softbank’s $500 million CMT investment: “Promoting long-term improvements in driving standards around the world”
“CMT is uniquely positioned to help insurers develop the insights to better support customers and advance their operations while promoting long-term improvements in driving standards around the world” according to Akshay Naheta, a Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers.
“Over the past few years, the DriveWell platform has helped make roads safer by making drivers better in a world where crashes are rising due to factors like distracted driving,” said Hari Balakrishnan, CMT’s Chair and Chief Technology Officer, who founded CMT with Bill Powers (CEO) and Sam Madden (Chief Scientist). “Our rapid growth has been fueled by a culture that values collaboration with our customers and invests in research to improve our solutions and develop new products. This partnership with the Vision Fund is the start of the next stage of our journey to bring safe mobility solutions for people and goods on a massive scale.”
CMT has shipped its sixth millionth Tag that augments the DriveWell smartphone telematics programs
CMT’s DriveWell Tag, invented in 2014, was the first fully wireless “Internet of Things” (IoT) device to measure vehicle dynamics for actuarial scoring and real-time impact alerts with roadside assistance; in 2018, CMT shipped its six millionth Tag (“The world’s first and only purpose-built Internet of Things (IoT) device for auto insurers and fleets of all sizes”).
Since 2016, CMT has introduced new services for crash reconstruction and loss notification with telematics data, dashcam video analytics for risk scoring, fleet features for commercial insurance, and best-in-class risk scoring models. These models enable insurers to price risk accurately using telematics data. According to CMT, several regulators have approved the use of its models for rating.
For more information
For more information read Dr. Balakrishnan’s Agency Checklists interview where you can also find his contact information.
