Insurance is one of the key areas that needs ironing out before driverless cars are to become a common feature on roads worldwide. Questions such as who is responsible in the event of a crash: machine or man? are being debated by authorities and governments around the globe.

But the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has said today that data will be central to figuring these sorts of queries out.

It said autonomous and connected cars would need to collect "a basic set of core data" to stop drivers being...

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BMW and Hyundai are the highest ranked car brands with regard to experience with vehicle technology, according to an inaugural report from J.D. Power.

The Tech Experience Index (TXI) measured car models and manufacturers on collision protection, comfort and convenience, driving assistance, entertainment and connectivity, navigation, and smartphone mirroring. The study found that two BMW cars – the 2 Series for small premium and 4 Series for compact premium – and two Hyundai...

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Vinli has expanded its portfolio by joining hands with Meineke Car Care and Cox Automotive to offer connected car services that will be powered by T-Mobile. T-Mobile’s wireless connectivity will offer customers with an in-car telematics solution, with service supporting apps, safety services and advanced diagnostics.

Vinli will help Meineke with an open and transparent vehicle maintenance and fleet service programme, due to which, car owners will be able to receive real-time...

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The usage based insurance (UBI) market is an ever-growing industry, with an estimated 100 million vehicles set to be insured worldwide with telematics policies by 2020. This is set to grow to nearly 50% of the world’s vehicles by 2030, generating more than €250 billion in premiums for insurers.

But insurers and OEMs face a growing conundrum: what do their UBI or connected car propositions include? Currently the insurance market is using policy premium discounts through driver...

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TomTom Telematics is partnering with Sage to provide real-time accounting for companies with fleets of vehicles.

The collaboration will witness the integration of TomTom WEBFLEET and Sage Live, with customers of the latter solution now being offered an automatic view of fleet data from connected vehicles – including trucks, light commercial vehicles and passenger cars.

Sage is a company that provides cloud accounting software. WEBFLEET is used by small to large businesses to help...

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The government has launched a major consultation which invites drivers and members of the industry to have their say on regulations surrounding driverless vehicles to ensure they can be insured for use on roads as soon as commercially available. 

Patrick 

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Michigan law firms are carving teams out of their automotive practices, dedicated to autonomous and connected vehicles. The pioneering laws firms include Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone (Detroit) and Butzel Long (Ann Arbor), both of whom have been representing automotive clients for several years.

According to Jennifer Dukarski, a part of this team of attorneys at Butzel Long,...

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The introduction of autonomous cars is expected to cause motor insurers to go through a substantial restructuring, as warned this week by automotive giant Volvo. 

Everyone dreads their motor insurance renewal, even the smallest vehicles end up costing most people...

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In recent times, it hasn’t been uncommon for industry sectors to face scandal or massively increased regulatory constraints; just think of the banking sector and national supermarkets, over the past few years.  But news from Volkswagen (VW) – one of the most trusted and reliable brands in the fleet business – has taken us all by surprise.

There are 29.6 million cars on the road in the UK, but with reports saying that as many as 1.5 million VW cars may have to be...

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In order to make the best of the IoT solutions market, TeliaSonera has developed a connected car solution, known as Telia Sense, targeting the Nordic and Baltic countries.

The cloud-based solution can be used on new as well as old vehicles and comprises three parts – a monthly subscription, an app for smartphones and a vehicle telematics unit equipped with a SIM-card that connects to the OBD2-port.

TeliaSonera will first launch the solution in Sweden in 2016, with...

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Automatic Labs has announced $24 million in series B funding to “continue its mission to transform the car ownership experience with a host of connected car apps built on the Automatic platform.”

The company recently launched App Gallery, ostensibly an app store for connected cars, and its own developer platform, which is available to build apps for “just about any car since 1996”. It aims to use the cash injection to accelerate growth and continue expanding its...

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We might be entering the era of driverless cars, but for the time being the majority of us will remain in control which means the only errors we can blame are our own. This is where TomTom wants to step-in and help prevent our human mistakes from occuring with an innovative connected car application.

TomTom's system allows for a more-detailed look at driving performance

Dubbed TomTom CURFER, the new technology provides real-time feedback on the...

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If you wanted a connected car, you would have to put down a considerable sum of money for a car technologically-savvy enough. Yet one Dallas-based firm is aiming to turn all that on its head.

Meet Vinli. The startup, which debuted at TechCrunch Disrupt SF in September, has the simple mission statement of “turning your car into a smart connected car”, by installing a $99 device into your vehicle and utilising Vinli’s apps, app store and 4G LTE connection. And the startup...

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A report from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) argues the need for greater industry collaboration in developing connected and driverless cars.

The report outlines a variety of potential issues and threats covered in this publication before, from personal data theft to fraud and deception, freight and goods theft and automotive...

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The Hella group has released details of a new system called the Intelligent Damage Detection System that is capable of detecting scratches and dents as they happen.

Depending on the specification, anything from two to 12 sensors are positioned through a car’s body panels. A central control panel is able to detect a pressure being applied to the panel and then decide whether it is rain or something far less innocuous like a scratch.

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Looking at the recent news from some of the world’s biggest auto manufacturers, it is clear to see just how much progress has been made and how the connected car is revolutionising the in-car experience. At CES in January 2015, GM announced AtYourService, a suite of new OnStar services aimed at allowing retailers and other merchants to promote deals directly to drivers. These promotions include hotel...

Insurance telematics concerns could simply be sensationalised hyperbole if new research by LexisNexis rings true for the wider population.

The company’s 2014 Usage-Based Insurance (UBI) white paper revealed how consumers’ comfort levels surrounding the sharing of UBI driving data were on a similar level to other internet-related tasks such as online banking and social media.

In fact, both online search data and social media personal rated higher on the study’s concern scale than UBI driving...

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Digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation has moved to dismantle copyright legislation that prevents car owners from tinkering with their own vehicle's software programming.

The USA’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a series of copyright laws that aims to protect the rights of both copyright owners and consumers, restricts access to a car’s electronic control unit (ECU) on the grounds of vehicle safety.

A host of requests have been filed with the...