By Miles, a CAM Creator in the UK Connected and Automated Mobility Roadmap to 2030: CAM Creators Update, is the UK’s only pay-by-mile car insurance provider, offering a fairer, more flexible policy for lower mileage drivers. Drivers pay a small upfront sum for an annual policy and are then billed at the end of each month for the miles they drive. Having launched in July 2018, the company has already seen over 65 million miles insured on its policies so far. In this blog, CEO & Co-founder James Blackham talks about the future of vehicle insurance and By Miles’ contribution to the Roadmap…

By Miles and the Roadmap

Zenzic’s UK Connected and Automated Mobility Roadmap to 2030 notes the effect that self-driving and connected cars are having on the insurance industry, with focus moving away from insurance of the driver and towards the insurance of the actual car. The Roadmap states that a strong relationship is needed between autonomous car manufacturers and insurers to reach the eventual goal of making self-driving cars cheaper to insure than cars driven by humans.

Connected car insurance

By Miles launched the world’s first connected car insurance policy in 2019, which is the first of its kind to use data directly from a connected car to work out how much premium to charge. Drivers simply log into their By Miles account and connect it with their car in a few taps to share their mileometer and other data.

The next step for By Miles, in line with Zenzic’s Roadmap, is to reduce the insurance costs for connected car drivers when they’re using the car’s autonomous mode and inbuilt safety features – this will give a direct financial incentive for drivers to use these features that make them, and the roads, safer.

Usage-based insurance

If cars will drive themselves some of the time, and drivers take control at other times, we need to be able to charge drivers for their usage only. Today, most car insurance policies are not usage-based, meaning costs won’t work out cheaper for autonomous cars.

By Miles offers the only policy in the UK that charges drivers by their miles. We’re also using the data we collect to better understand the risk of a car when driven by a human and getting ready for inevitable future developments with autonomous cars.

The blame game

Assigning fault after an accident is an essential part of the car insurance process. Manufacturers must be responsible if the accident occurs due to a fault with their self-driving software, while if it’s human error, the car insurance provider must pay for any damage.

The challenge is to develop reliable technology that allows the car and insurer to share data to know who’s at fault. Usage-based car insurance for connected cars provides this data in a secure framework.

The future

By Miles is innovating in an industry that hasn’t changed for many years. Insurance is the enabler of mobility and must evolve. To hit the ambitious goals in the Roadmap, car insurance must keep pace with technological developments. Connectivity and communication between the self-driving car, its manufacturer and insurer must be fully integrated for drivers to get the fairest deal for their insurance.

We’re excited to provide fair and reliable policies for drivers of these intelligent cars, and bridging the gap between car insurance and fully autonomous cars is at the forefront of our objectives. Through building connections with car manufacturers, we will ensure that drivers are being charged less when they use autonomous driving and its accompanying safety features.

By Miles is building fairer insurance today that’s ready for tomorrow. Find out more about them here, and view their Roadmap contribution in our interactive Roadmap tool.