TomTom GPS watches you drive, sets your insurance rate accordingly
The next portable navigation device on your dash could watch your driving habits and provide you with a lower insurance rate, but it could also rat you out (too fast! too hard on the brakes!) and have you paying more. The next step in usage-based insurance comes courtesy of Dutch firm TomTom and UK insurer Motaquote , who are teaming to offer a form of Carrot-and-Stick Auto Insurance. That’s not the real title but it’s close enough because it penalizes aggressive drivers at the same time it rewards good ones. TomTom’s technology can be viewed as Big Brother (if you’re paranoid) while it could be a godsend for good drivers or for those that really need low-cost insurance and are willing to reprogram their driving habits to get it.
TomTom and Motaquote call it Fair Pay Insurance. A driver in the UK gets a modified TomTom Pro 3100 portable GPS with Active Driver Feedback and Live Services, and a Link tracking unit “allowing driver behaviour and habits to be monitored.” The feedback on “driving events” covers speeding, sharp cornering, and heavy braking. Since it’s location-based, the service might be able to tell if you’re driving the speed limit on on a high-speed road or 20 mph over on a local road.
STMicroelectronics Unveils 3-Axis Gyroscope for Automotive Applications
STMicroelectronics, a global semiconductor company serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications and a supplier of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems sensors and automotive ICs, has introduced a 3-axis digital-output gyroscope that meets the qualification for automotive integrated circuits.
According to a release, accurate measurements of angular-motion detection with STMicroelectronics automotive-qualified gyroscopes will enhance dead-reckoning and/or map-matching capabilities in car navigation and telematics applications. In situations when a GPS signal can't be seen, such as indoors and in urban canyons between tall buildings, dead-reckoning systems compensate for loss of satellite signal by monitoring motion, distance traveled and altitude.
ST's A3G4250D gyroscope measures angular rates up to +/-250dps (degree per second). An on-chip IC interface converts the angular-motion data into a 16-bit digital bit stream that is transmitted with high reliability to a dedicated microcontroller chip through a standard SPI or I(2)C protocol. The device provides two output lines (interrupt and data ready) and four user-selectable output data rates.
