CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 26,
2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Global insurer Discovery Limited, today
announced a strategic partnership deal with U.S.-based Cambridge
Mobile Telematics (CMT), a leading telematics technology provider.
This deal will further bolster the current productive relationship
between its auto-term insurance arm, Discovery Insure, and CMT.
Discovery Limited, with operations in South Africa, United
Kingdom, United States,
China, Singapore, and Australia, is increasingly becoming known for
its disruptive innovation and replicable business model that
structurally changes the way insurance works by improving
consumers' behavior in terms of health and driving. CMT has
developed patented technology embedded in popular mobile
applications that allows users to seamlessly interact with massive
amounts of sensor data processed from smartphones, cars, and other
mobile devices.
Adrian Gore, Chief Executive
Officer of Discovery Limited, commented, "This strategic
partnership with CMT further enhances Discovery Insure's leadership
position in the growing industry of behavior-based auto insurance.
While auto insurers are using telematics technology to monitor and
track driving behavior with discounts on premiums to policyholders,
Discovery Insure harnesses both telematics technology and
behavioral economics to promote safer driving, with exceptional
results for both our clients and the company."
ABI Research, a New York-based
market research and intelligence firm, estimates that the number of
monitored drivers worldwide will rise from 1.85 million in 2010 to
89 million by 2017. Telematics focuses on the use of wireless
technologies to send data over long distances.
"We are focused on continuing to expand our global footprint and
align with companies that share our vision—to make better drivers
and safer roads," said William
Powers, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cambridge
Mobile Telematics. "Through a strategic alliance with Discovery
Limited, we can collectively shape the future of the behavior-based
insurance industry."
More than 1.24 million road traffic deaths occur each year
according to the most recent World Health Organization report on
road safety. In the context of high road fatality rates, in
South Africa and globally, the
ability to change driving behavior through robust and accurate
measurement and attractive incentives has significant potential to
reduce mortality rates over the long term. Discovery Insure's
business model centers on combining telematics technology with
insights from behavioral economics in its driver-behavior
program.
Anton Ossip, Chief Executive
Officer of Discovery Insure, views the strategic partnership with
CMT as an important step for the company, "We are very excited to
partner with CMT given its breadth and depth of expertise in the
field of mobile telematics. Over the past year and a half,
Discovery Insure worked very closely with CMT and its MIT-based experts to develop a smartphone app that
allows anyone with a smartphone to monitor their trips and driving
behavior through telematics technology. This technology has
incredible potential for gathering significant and relevant data
from a large group of drivers to learn more about the behaviors
that contribute to road fatalities and injuries."
To learn more about the evolution of telematics and the
use of this technology to improve driver behavior download the
"Discovery Insure and Cambridge Mobile Telematics - Insights
into Driver Behaviour" infographic and view the
"Discovery Insure Smartphone Enabled DQ Track
Solution" video online.
About Discovery Limited
Discovery Limited is a South
African-founded financial services organisation that operates in
the healthcare, life assurance, auto insurance, savings and
investment products and wellness markets.
Founded in 1992 by the current Group Chief Executive Officer
Adrian Gore, Discovery is guided by
a clear core purpose – to make people healthier and to enhance and
protect their lives. Underpinning this core purpose is the belief
that through innovation Discovery can be a powerful market
disruptor.
The company, with headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa, has expanded its
operations globally and currently serves over seven million clients
across South Africa, the
United Kingdom, the United States, China and Singapore. Vitality, Discovery's wellness
programme, is the world's largest scientific, incentive-based
wellness solution for individuals and corporates. The global
Vitality membership base now exceeds 5.5 million lives in five
markets.
Discovery is an authorised financial services provider. It
trades on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange under the code
"DSY". Follow us on Twitter @Discovery_SA
About Discovery Insure
Discovery Insure was launched
in South Africa in May 2011. This pioneering product was created by
leveraging the behavioural expertise developed in the Vitality
wellness programme and the latest telematics technology. At the
heart of Discovery Insure's Vitalitydrive programme is the DQ-Track
telematics device that measures and reports key aspects of driving
behaviour developed in collaboration with Formula 1 designer and
Discovery Insure Special Engineering Adviser, Rory Byrne.
Discovery Insure's driving data shows that policyholders
currently have a lower fatality rate than the rest of the
population. More impressive though is the programme's ability to
significantly improve driving behaviour. Discovery Insure drivers
on average improve their driving by 15% within the first 12 months
of joining the programme.
About Cambridge Mobile Telematics
Cambridge Mobile
Telematics (CMT) was founded by computer scientists from
MIT with a mission to make roads and
drivers safer around the world. CMT's intellectual property and
technologies are embedded in popular mobile applications used in
many countries, triggering big improvements in driving behavior and
changing the global insurance market. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, CMT's world-class
team includes experts in the technology and business of mobile
sensing, data-intensive analytics, and machine learning. For more
information, please visit www.cmtelematics.com
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SOURCE Discovery