Advanced Driving Hub

Does anyone know of a comparison test of the multitude of insurance company black boxes and driving apps?

ie Whether they have different areas of emphasis (time of day/night, types of road used, speed limits, cornering/acceleration/braking forces, etc.)?

Has anyone actually tried one? I kept trying to download the Aviva one but it told me it wasn't compatible with the phone I had at the time. Haven't tried recently. Rather suspicious of them since I expect you have to register and I wonder if it sends data back to its mother ship.

Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote:Has anyone actually tried one? I kept trying to download the Aviva one but it told me it wasn't compatible with the phone I had at the time. Haven't tried recently. Rather suspicious of them since I expect you have to register and I wonder if it sends data back to its mother ship.

What do you mean "if". I'd be staggered if it doesn't. How else are they going to refine their models?

I'd still like there to be a requirement for them to publish their criteria for "safe" driving and what data they are using to set those levels. I suspect it simply measures "low G", and speed limit compliance as good The cynic in me also suspects that it will treat 40 in a 30 as "safer" than 80 in a 60, despite it being the same margin over the limit, simply given the number of drivers that routinely do 40 in 30 limits compared to those doing 80 in 60s.

Perhaps I'm cynical but several years ago there was a proposal to have gps in every vehicle for speed limit compliance.
We now have many cars that can send position data to an assistance base in the event of an emergency, youngsters accepting black boxes to reduce insurance premiums, enough cctv coverage to follow your movements through many major cities and between them, greater internet monitoring, mobilephone apps wanting access to your location, browser, photos, contacts etc ; how far away are we to being monitored 24/7 by companies / authority or are we already there?

Discov8 wrote:Perhaps I'm cynical but several years ago there was a proposal to have gps in every vehicle for speed limit compliance.
We now have many cars that can send position data to an assistance base in the event of an emergency, youngsters accepting black boxes to reduce insurance premiums, enough cctv coverage to follow your movements through many major cities and between them, greater internet monitoring, mobilephone apps wanting access to your location, browser, photos, contacts etc ; how far away are we to being monitored 24/7 by companies / authority or are we already there?

As George Orwell spelled out in Big Brother - the more an authority controls, the easier it is to be off-radar...
The reality is that if any government does this there will be an assumption that they know everything about you - how long before someone sells you a little rig into which you sit your black box which changes g-force / etc. - or gives the ability to re-code them - or just drive cars which don't have them!
Where there is an assumption there is a loophole...

Alasdair

akirk wrote:

Discov8 wrote:Perhaps I'm cynical but several years ago there was a proposal to have gps in every vehicle for speed limit compliance.
We now have many cars that can send position data to an assistance base in the event of an emergency, youngsters accepting black boxes to reduce insurance premiums, enough cctv coverage to follow your movements through many major cities and between them, greater internet monitoring, mobilephone apps wanting access to your location, browser, photos, contacts etc ; how far away are we to being monitored 24/7 by companies / authority or are we already there?

As George Orwell spelled out in Big Brother - the more an authority controls, the easier it is to be off-radar...
The reality is that if any government does this there will be an assumption that they know everything about you - how long before someone sells you a little rig into which you sit your black box which changes g-force / etc. - or gives the ability to re-code them - or just drive cars which don't have them!
Where there is an assumption there is a loophole...

But that's also where the totalitarian regime starts asserting that if you do fiddle/block the technology, you must be a "terrorist" and punished accordingly. After all, if you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear.

I actually used one of these either 1 or 2 years ago. It was Admiral's 'AppyDriver'; it was a phone app (that could be turned off), and I needed to drive something like 200 miles with it running to be given a score and maybe a discount.

I don't have that much information on what it scored me on: I used it for 2 long motorway journeys in daylight, travelling 5mph below the limit everywhere, with as little lateral G force as I could manage. I think I got 10-12% off in the end (not really worth the bother frankly).

I will say this though: putting so much focus on meeting some silly goals had a noticeable negative effect on every other aspect of that drive.

My employers fitted in-car systems as a trial a few years back. After seeing where it said I was driving 'badly' and where 'well', I had a few discussions with the supplier of the box. Apparently they were marking down "frequent sharp turns"; they admitted that this was an issue with typical Welsh country roads. Apparently it was also an issue with people who lived near lots of roundabouts (and from experience it certainly 'marked down' driving past Milton Keynes)! It also didn't like it when I would quickly take a passing place on a winding single-track road (apparently you are supposed to come slowly to a halt then gently reverse, rather than pull in and stop on seeing an oncoming vehicle). Deactivated (at least they told me so) two years ago, they will have changed now, hopefully for the better.

Presumably, capable drivers are not those who decide the parameters.
It's, again, dumbing down, lcd and no interest in raising standards.

WhoseGeneration wrote:Presumably, capable drivers are not those who decide the parameters.
It's, again, dumbing down, lcd and no interest in raising standards.

It would certainly be interesting to see how it scored, say an IAM masters or Rospa gold drive.