Volvo Wants To Make You A Safer Driver—And Lower Your Insurance Bill

An optional app will provide a safety score based on the driver’s behavior, and higher scores could lead to lower insurance rates.

Photo by: Volvo

Iulian Dnistran

By: Iulian Dnistran

Aug 13, at 5:01am ET

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Volvo is taking a page out of Tesla’s book when it comes to car insurance.
The Swedish automaker is launching an optional app that monitors how a car is driven.
Available on 2020-and-newer Volvos, the Safety Coach app will come up with a safety score, which could be linked to special insurance rates.

Volvo is launching a new app that will monitor the driver’s behavior behind the steering wheel and come up with a safety score for the previous two weeks. That score will then be used for usage-based offers from insurance companies that have partnered with Volvo, so people who get high scores in the app have the potential to slash their insurance costs.

The Safety Coach app will be optional, and its rollout will begin this month in Sweden and Norway, with most Volvo models from model year 2020 getting access to the in-car app. A smartphone version will also be integrated into the Volvo Cars mobile app. Further down the road, the company aims to launch the app in the United States and other European markets, with insurance-related offers included in the rollout.

Volvo Safety Coach in-car app

Photo by: Volvo

The app, which is similar to Tesla’s Safety Score approach, will monitor the driver’s behavior in traffic, including braking, acceleration, and cornering. The app was built by Volvo Cars in collaboration with Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT), which describes itself as the world’s largest telematics and AI company for safer mobility.

“Our research shows that many accidents involve some form of surprise. What helps prevent that is predictability,” said Mikael Ljung Aust, driver behaviour expert at Volvo Cars. “Staying within expected speed ranges and avoiding abrupt manoeuvres makes your driving easier for others to anticipate and reduces the risk of a collision. Supporting safe driver behaviours is a key piece of the puzzle we need to solve to reach zero collisions, and tools like Safety Coach can help turn these insights into safer everyday habits.”

After downloading the app, drivers can manage their own data. Volvo said that owners are not locked into the system after opting in for the first time, so they can opt out of sending their data to affiliated insurance companies. What’s more, after opting out, drivers can opt in again at any time.

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In Sweden and Norway, owners who choose to share their driving behavior data will soon be able to make use of a special usage-based offer from insurance firm Volvia. The automaker has not disclosed which insurance company will handle customized offers in the U.S. when the Safety Coach app launches here.

In Europe, the app is compatible with cars that have a Google-based infotainment system from model year 2020 onwards, and the same cars will likely make the cut in the U.S., too. These include the all-electric EX40, EC40, EX60, and EX90, as well as the combustion-powered XC40, S60, V60, XC60, XC90, and V90.