ICBC seeking new drivers to participate in telematics pilot program | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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ICBC seeking new drivers to participate in telematics pilot program

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ICBC

ICBC is moving forward to the next phase of a pilot program with new drivers to see how telematic technology can help improve their driving.

The Insurance Corporation of B.C. is inviting as many as 7,000 novice drivers, and fully licenced drivers with less than five years of experience, to test if a telematic device can measurably improve driver behaviour.

The test is to involve a small in-vehicle device that communicates with an app installed on the driver's cellphone, according to an ICBC media release. For each trip, driving behaviours like speeding, braking patterns and level of distracted driving are recorded and an overall score is produced.

The results from the pilot will help inform whether a longer-term telematics program should be implemented for more ICBC customers.

ICBC says it partnered in February 2018, with a North American technology company – CellControl – to pilot telematics paired with phone apps. Results from the first telematics pilot, which focused on the technology's usability, found that over 40 per cent of participants saw improvements in their driving by using the technology, and nearly three-quarters recommended that ICBC explore its use further — particularly for inexperienced drivers. 

"From our first telematics pilot earlier this year, ICBC has developed a telematics strategy to identify how the technology can be used to improve road safety and drive behavioural change among higher-risk drivers in B.C.," Nicolas Jimenez, ICBC's president and CEO said in the release. "We heard from those pilot participants that most believed the use of telematics would make the roads safer for everyone. This is our next step in a thoughtful examination of telematics technology and how it might help to keep these drivers safer."

In early 2019, ICBC will confirm a vendor that will provide the technology for the pilot through a Negotiated Request for Proposal process, and participant sign-up will begin in the spring. 

The pilot will launch in the summer with incentives for drivers while collecting driver feedback and driving behaviour data for one year.

Anyone interested in participating in the pilot can sign up for updates at icbc.com/driverpilot.


To contact a reporter for this story, email Shelby Thevenot or call (250) 819-6089 or email the editor You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

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