EV makers say they are being motivating by the opportunity to close the insurance gap with more data. The idea is that so much more about the cars is measured – especially as automakers use EVs as test beds for systems that are building toward fully self-driving vehicles – that insurers have much better data about the risk each driver poses, and can use it to contain costs.
The company boasted about its early success in Texas, where it launched last fall. Kirkhorn said the cars send Tesla so much information about how they are being driven – letting the company send guidance back to drivers – that the real-time feedback results in"quite a bit lower" accident rates. Introductions in those three states will be the start of what a GM spokeswoman said in an email is the company's"vision to offer a more fair/personalized insurance product to our customers."
One big opportunity is to get insurance clients without adding to the $10 billion yearly spent on U.S. car insurance advertising, said Andrew Rose, president of GM's OnStar Insurance unit and vice president for insurance innovation. That is more than auto companies spend advertising cars, he said.