Tesla has officially launched insurance products based on real-time driving behavior. This product is currently only available in Texas. The automaker has launched its own insurance product in California, but it has not used real-time driving data and its safety score as a reference basis for premiums.
At the Tesla shareholders meeting last week, CEO Elon Musk announced that Tesla will expand its insurance products to Texas and increase its real-time driving behavior score next week. Today Elon Musk confirmed that the product is now online in Texas, and Tesla owners can apply for quotations. Unlike Tesla’s products in California, this new insurance in Texas includes real-time data. Tesla uses real-time driving behavior to provide insurance. Currently, all Model S, Model 3, Model X and Model Y owners in Texas can use it.
Unlike other telematics or usage-based insurance products, Tesla does not require users to install additional equipment on the vehicle. Tesla uses specific functions in the vehicle to evaluate premiums based on the user’s actual driving situation. Users will pay monthly premiums based on their driving behavior, rather than traditional factors such as credit, age, gender, claim history and driving records used by other insurance providers.
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In the rules, Tesla insists that it will not use age or gender to calculate insurance premiums for users, nor will it use any car accident records to calculate insurance premiums. The automaker said that the safety score, which was first introduced for fully autonomous driving testers last month, will be the main factor in calculating insurance premiums.
Tesla’s safety score is based on five indicators, including the number of forward-collision warnings per 1,000 miles, the number of hard brakes, the number of aggressive turns, the unsafe following distance, and the number of forced disengagement of automatic driving. The automaker stated that it expects drivers who are considered average in safety scores to save 20% to 40% of their premiums compared to insuring their competitors, while those with the safest scores can save 30% to 60%.
Tesla pointed out that the safety scoring system is still in the testing phase, and its performance should be improved over time.