Hacker News Reader

Comment by quietpain | Hacker News Reader

I think the insurance co will be the main lever in this story. If you have cameras & telemetry: standard insurance, open source offline car: pay premium.

View on HN

It is already the case today (at least in the UK). If you accept having a "black box", then you have a discount. I already pay the premium to not have that installed.

PS: I understand we're talking about the future here, just wanted to clarify that paying a premium for less telemetry is already here and not a hypothetical case.

I actually wanted to go with an insurer that installs a black box. My dealer, however, doesn't do those (and their standard package is pretty good, so with a new car it was stupid to go with someone else).

My insurance company has a phone app that collects the same info - speed, deaccelation (gyroscopes), etc. the app is optional but qualifies you for a discount after 3 months of app history, if your driving pattern meets their standards. They told me they do not impose rate increases based on the app’s reporting, only discounts. I did not install it

but the point is: You don’t need a car device anymore.

My insurance company's app sometimes detects commuter train rides as car trips. As far as I can tell, there's no way to tell it "No, I'm not actually driving now".

they'd be able to tell by the GPS coordinates, whether they bother, who know?

They’d be able to tell if the app were to require connecting to the car via Bluetooth. That connection won’t be there when traveling by train.

Uninstall the app?

You at least bought a burner device to do this, right?

I did not install the app.

Dashcams have worked just fine for a while, and they don't have to be connected to the internet to pull the data later SELECTIVELY, WHEN NEEDED. Yes, there is a chance it's completely destroyed, but it's fairly minor.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com