British Insurer Signs Connected-Car Deal to Reconstruct Crashes

U.K.-based insurer Admiral Group plc is launching a service that can track its policyholders' cars and report details of a crash almost instantly, the Financial Times reports.

Admiral has signed a three-year contract to use hardware and software developed by Redtail Telematics Ltd., which is based in Cambridge, England. The technology can detail a car's speed, location, direction of impact, acceleration and braking before, during and after a crash.

The company announced the system in April. The technology uses a transmitter to collect 1,000 data readings per second to remotely reconstruct a crash.

Data captured by the Redtail system can be combined with Google Earth mapping to reconstruct the crash site and create a video simulation of the vehicle's movements. The system doesn't show the presence of other vehicles. But Redtail says its technology can indicate the path of the policyholder's vehicle and determine if the driver was behaving erratically just before the incident.

The service could reduce fraudulent claims and their associated costs, according to Redtail. The company says the system would be especially valuable in pricing premiums on usage-based insurance for young drivers.