Telematics is set to get a boost down under this week, as software giant SSP and telematics solution provider Wunelli, have announced a joint cooperation to offer full mobile telematics sofware to Australian customers, be they individual consumers, insurers or fleet managers.
For those looking to develop their own telematic solutions, SSP will also be offering Wunelli’s mobile platform and scoring back end, for them to further push the boundaries of what telematics can do and to develop bespoke solutions for the Australian consumer.
“The agreement with Wunelli allows us to offer insurers entry into the usage-based insurance arena at a fraction of the cost of hard-wired devices,” said SSP’s head of data services strategy Adrian Coupland in a chat with Insurance Business Online.
Like many telematics applications around the world, Wunelli’s system looks at different aspects of a driver’s habits, taking into consideration speed, acceleration, braking and other factors, to offer a report on their driving skill, allowing insurers to better apply risk assessment to individual drivers on their books. Individuals can also benefit, by seeing what they’re like when they aren’t paying such close attention to their driving.
While traditionally telematics have been handled by bespoke software and hardware solutions, what’s becoming increasingly popular, are mobile phone applications that perform the same tasks. While they aren’t quite as accurate, they offer enough of an assessment that a driver profile can be created and they’re certainly far cheaper, something that Wunelli and SSP are no doubt banking on by offering this type of telematics solution to the Australian public.
Penny Searles, managing director at Wunelli, said: “We have spent a number of years perfecting the app technology and alongside the advanced operating systems now available, we are able to address issues such as battery drain, and the ability to download a new app if the original phone is lost or stolen.”
Wunelli and SSP have built up their strong working relationship over many years, with early developments in the UK helping to flesh out the application and make it a respectable rival of the more traditional telematics hardware and software suites.
“These markets [will] have the benefit of seeing what has worked well in the UK,” continued Searles in the release.
About Wunelli
Wunelli is a telematics solutions provider, operating under the banner of UK based conglomerate, LexisNexis. It provides applications, data processing and analytics and telematics solutions for many different organisations around the world. While in this instance it’s most highlighted for its impressive developments in the field of mobile application telematics, it also has a history of developing bespoke telematics hardware. its Hardwired devices, offer different abilities, like integration with in-house telematics systems, customer dashboards for claims and services, mobile and fixed location installation and insurance documentation verification.
Over 900 million miles have been tracked by Wunelli to date. The average journey people drive? 4.63 miles.
