A small insurance startup, Root, has launched a car insurance specifically designed for Tesla vehicle owners that reduces the price of the policy the longer the vehicle runs in autonomous mode, on the basis that this mode is much safer than driving manually. Thus, drivers who spend a lot of time on the highway or in conditions where they can activate the autonomous mode will pay less insurance. Root is operating at a very small scale: so far, only in Ohio, where the likelihood of finding many Tesla owners is probably low. But the idea of a context-based insurance policy that adjusts its price depending on the circumstances or our driving is undoubtedly original, and could be applied to many other situations from an insurance perspective. However, as the internet of things becomes a reality, the possibilities increase notably, raising hard-to-answer questions along the way: should companies offer lower health insurance policy for people known to lead healthy lives due to information provided by their wearables or connected scales?

Source: Forbes March 12, 2017 08:45 UTC