Cambridge Mobile Telematics Launches Solution to Reduce Crash Frequency

Hard Brake Alerts makes drivers safer by notifying them of hard brakes in real-time, using just their phone

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT), the world’s largest telematics service provider, today announced a new solution to change driver behavior and reduce crash frequency. Traditionally, insurers and fleets have used hardware devices that alert drivers to unsafe driving behaviors in real-time. The problem is that these hardware solutions are expensive. CMT’s new Hard Brake Alerts provides the same real-time feedback and frequency reductions only using a driver’s phone — no hardware required.

“Auto insurers have been using hardware in their safe driving programs for years to alert drivers in real-time when they brake too quickly. Drivers react positively to the feedback and change their behavior, reducing their crash risk. But these programs are hard to scale because of the hardware costs and logistical challenges,” said Arash Hadipanah, Senior Principal Product Manager at CMT. “Hard Brake Alerts puts the power of real-time audio feedback into the driver’s phone, removing the challenges of hardware, and enabling insurers and others to scale the solution as quickly as they’d like. And we think they’ll want to move fast — drivers with Hard Brake Alerts have reduced their hard braking by 14%.”

Hard Brake Alerts is proven to significantly reduce hard braking. CMT tested the impact of Hard Brake Alerts across nearly 30,000 drivers on its car crash assistance app, Openroad. Within just 30 days, drivers with Hard Brake Alerts reduced their hard braking by 14%. For an auto insurer, this reduction in hard braking could mean a loss ratio improvement of up to 3.78 points.

Hard Brake Alerts is an industry breakthrough. It leverages real-time on-phone machine learning and background audio, with high accuracy and near-zero latency alerting. CMT programmatically adjusts the volume to ensure drivers hear the alert — either through their phone or their vehicle’s speakers.

Hard Brake Alerts has proven popular with consumers. Of the drivers who have experienced Hard Brake Alerts, 72% said the alert positively influenced their driving behaviors. Hard Brake Alerts is an optional feature — drivers can opt out at any time.

About Cambridge Mobile Telematics

Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT) is the world’s largest telematics service provider. Its mission is to make the world’s roads and drivers safer. The company’s AI-driven platform, DriveWell®, gathers sensor data from millions of IoT devices — including smartphones, proprietary Tags, connected vehicles, dashcams, and third-party devices — and fuses them with contextual data to create a unified view of vehicle and driver behavior. Companies from personal and commercial auto insurance, automotive, rideshare, smart cities, wireless, financial services, and family safety industries use insights from CMT’s platform to power their risk assessment, safety, claims, and driver improvement programs. Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, with offices in Budapest, Chennai, Seattle, and Tokyo, CMT serves millions of people through 80 programs in 18 countries, including 21 of the top 25 US auto insurers.