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”.
Authors: Mark Leonard and Emily Groper, 2022 Summer Student-at-law
There has been a reported surge in trademark phishing scams. The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (“CIPO”) issued a statement warning of an email phishing scam targeting members of the public by…
A few recent patent applications reveal that the Honda Element may be making its return to the automotive industry: The first patent application is a “camper for a vehicle”. The second…
Kory McDonald, the creator of “Worldle”, a geography-themed game, is advocating on behalf of all games ending in “-le”. Worldle shows a series of Google Street view images from which players…
Steve King, the former Iowa Republican Congressman, has reportedly lost his appeal attempting to overturn a copyright verdict for using the “Success Kid” meme in his 2020 campaign. The “Success…
Alaska Airlines (“Alaska”) recently lost an appeal over a trademark licensing agreement at the Court of Appeal in London, in a decision favoring Virgin Group. Alaska was ordered to pay approximately…
A federal judge in California reportedly dismissed a lawsuit for breach-of-contract and tort claims brought by Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, against Bright Data, in a case involving data…
