Singapore Using Sensors

Matt Hamblen shares a video showing efforts to use data to improve the lives of citizens.

-DD

Tracking Driver Behavior

Lucas Mearian warns about auto insurance companies tracking driver behavior using cell phone technology from Agero. The sensors of a driver's smartphone will be a key component in the deployment of inexpensive usage based insurance (UBI).

Mearian reports that "Agero claims that it serves 15 of the top 20 insurance companies and that 75% of the new passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. have its telematics software in them. As a result, Agero has 'more information about cars and drivers than any other company.'"

Mearian notes that "If a driver is in an accident, his smartphone will let him know that it's about to send a notification to Agero; the driver has 30 seconds to cancel the notification." My concern is the potential liability for the costs associated with false alarms - ten seconds does not seem to be a long time to cancel a notification that could raise your insurance rates or even send an emergency squad to your location.

Mearian raises the issue of a driver's privacy, as U.S. law allows data aggregators to share the data they glean.

-DD

Sensors Providing New Information and Capabilities

Patrick Thibodeau reports that "There's a Rapid Push to Give Tech Something We're Born With: Senses." Thibodeau notes that the accelerometer found in smart phones is a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) sensor, and that projections indicate over ten billion MEMS sensors shall be sold in 2014. Of the five senses (sight, sound, touch, taste and smell) it is the last two that presently stymie development.

-DD