eDriving, the largest provider of online driver training and global driver risk management solutions, has announced it has partnered with leading analytics software firm FICO to launch new scoring algorithms to capture driving behavior and develop a transformational risk predictor — the FICO® Safe Driving Score.
Just as the FICO® Score is the standard measure of consumer credit risk, used by all players in the credit ecosystem, the FICO Safe Driving Score will provide a measure that facilitates consistency and fairness in driver safety assessment.
The strategic partnership between eDriving(SM) and FICO will be one of the centerpieces of a new “closed loop” driver training and improvement offering by eDriving, called Mentor™. The Mentor offering will initially serve two key marketplace segments: the fleet market and the teen/novice market, with expected launch dates in Q4 2016 and Q1 2017, respectively.
eDriving’s Mentor is a new smartphone telematics solution that will capture acceleration, braking, cornering, speeding, cellphone distraction, and other behavioral data, as well as provide the proprietary, predictive analytics platform to fuel the FICO Safe Driving Score. Furthermore, Mentor will provide a “playlist” of engaging interactive training interventions customized for each driver based on his or her risk profile. FICO has developed the score based on its empirical research of driving behavior inputs known to predict driver performance, risk, and on-road safety performance.
The Upside of Improving Your FICO Safe Driving Score
eDriving’s Mentor and the FICO® Safe Driving Score will empower good drivers to prove their low-risk profile. It will also help high-risk drivers understand their risk exposures, how those factors affect their safety, and what they can do to manage, control, and mitigate their risk of crashes, thereby improving their driving and ultimately better controlling their insurance costs. The solution provides broad and measurable benefits for drivers as well as fleets of all sizes, and results in safer drivers, safer roads, and reduced costs.
“This groundbreaking partnership between two global leaders elevates and expands our mission of empowering drivers to control their lives behind the wheel by improving their safety and reducing their risk,” said Celia Stokes, CEO, eDriving. “By working with an analytics powerhouse like FICO, we’ll have an enormous impact on what is happening on the road and create benefits that ripple through the entire driving ecosystem. There has been so much talk about a FICO-like score in this industry — we are delighted to be delivering on the dream and then some. Everyone wins here — the driver, their families, their insurers and their employers.”
“We believe in solutions that give consumers more control over their lives,” said Sally Taylor-Shoff, vice president of Scores, FICO. “Our programs, like FICO Score Open Access, provide consumers with insight into how lenders view their creditworthiness and provide information that enables them to better understand their financial health. In concert with the industry leader in driving education, the FICO Safe Driving Score will provide consumers with valuable insights into their driving behavior that will help people do something also vitally important — protect themselves, their passengers, and their vehicles.”
Advisory Board to Oversee Path to Mainstream Adoption
FICO and eDriving are also forming an advisory board to develop the FICO Safe Driving Score into a standard for all drivers. The advisory board will include representation from insurance companies (both commercial and personal), brokers, fleet, and incident management companies, other telematics service providers, and car manufacturers to define a beneficial industry standard, which does not exist today.
Click here to find out more about Mentor.
