JoNova » Big Car Data: Insurance insider warns they want to force you into an EV, ban insurance for petrol cars, and track you

Insurance companies just want to save the world right?

An anonymous insurance insider warns the plan is to force people to buy a digital car, and claims the push is so strong we won’t even be able to get insurance for a combustion engine vehicle. It sounds like a conspiracy theory except that insurers themselves admit Big Data from cars is worth a fortune, and they’ve have been lobbying to get your car data out of the hands of the car manufacturers (purely for your own good), and they’re already “involved in negotiations with the European digitalization and data protection manager”. Righto. Just six weeks ago, a Managing Director of Allianz insurance said he wants to track your car data so he can be “your invisible Guardian Angel.” Creepy, yes?

Wouldn’t you love to have your insurer, the police and the IRS as your back seat drivers?

Imagine a world in which the insurer acts as an invisible guardian angel to drivers, warning them of upcoming weather hazards or accident hotspots to avoid.

— Christoph Lauterwasser

Managing Director, Allianz Center for Technology

According to GeoffBuysCars an insider at a large European insurance company has spilled the beans. Being a car lover himself, the insider wants to warn the world that the plans are well advanced. The insurance giants want to collect all your data as you drive so they can adjust the premiums accordingly and instantly. If you drive a bit too fast, it’ll cost you (especially when 20-mile-an-hour-zones spread to everywhere). Your EV will report your offenses to the police and the insurance company. How good with that be?

GeoffBuysCars has translated the insider report “doing the rounds of Europe” into English (hear him below). I’ve searched for any news reports or confirmation and of course, found almost nothing at all about the insider. But a story from Allianz on October 17th suggests he’s right on the money.

It’s a new era of Big Data from cars:

Allianz seem awfully very excited about the tidal wave of big car data that is about to arrive, which they warn was being “monopolized” and “hoarded” (just not by them). Luckily for us, they lobbied the EU and now there’s a new law. Insurers are salivating at the thought of getting their hands on this data, and Big Bankers, and Big Bureaucrats are hardly going to stand in their way are they? They want that data too:

Doorway to a new era in automotive insurance (Allianz, Oct 17, 2023)

As the world in which we live becomes increasingly digital, every day, more and more data is being generated, monitored and analyzed. It’s also being transferred and monetized, and in some cases, monopolized. The power and insights that can be drawn from data is not lost on corporations and industry players, and while data can improve the competitive position of those with access, the hoarding of it can stifle competition and progress.

Connected vehicles already churn out several terabytes of data per day, but this is nothing compared to what’s to come – an estimated 30 terabytes of data per day by 2025¹. This is the data equivalent of over 7,000 high-definition movies²! In today’s cars, hundreds of high-tech sensors record everything from driving behavior to fuel consumption and seatbelt status.

…a coalition of parties including insurers, leasing companies, and repair shops have been lobbying the European Commission to intervene when it comes to accessing valuable vehicle data.

All the terabytes of car data was owned and “hoarded” by the car manufacturers like VW and Volvo but the new EU Data Act “gives that back to the car owner”. Which all sounds good, but wait half a nanosecond for the insurance companies and government agencies who will “offer discounts” to people who sign away their data so they can be spied on legally. Obviously the skiing billionaires at Davos won’t need the discount, so only the riff raff and the poor will be tracked every second of their driving day.

..the new EU Data Act will be a game changer, putting car owners back in the driver’s seat when it comes to who accesses their vehicles’ data. “This move is an important first step in order to enhance data sharing and competition, and for us as insurers to be able to implement new and improved products, claims processes, and effective prevention measures for our customers,” says Christoph Lauterwasser, Managing Director of the Allianz Center for Technology.

“We are about to enter a new era in the world of automotive insurance and solutions, thanks to the power of data from connected cars.”

Imagine being able to sell that data? Say, the insurers give you the discount and collect the bytes and then the tyre guys, the media, the phone companies, the police, the FBI, the shopping centres, the electricity companies and the CCP are happy to pay…

The Government will of course, just offer you a discount on your registration if you agree to be tracked.

“I worked in the IT department of a very large insurer…”

Hear his words. They are already setting this up… it will be connected to police, insurance and national security agencies…. in cooperation with Google and Microsoft.

Since the Luton airport fires, my favourite car commentator is GeoffBuysCars. This is a depressing story, but forewarned is forearmed. Get the word out so we can cut them off at the pass…

UPDATE: The insider letter was posted days later here.

…

Partial transcript cobbled together —

A mix of the anonymous insider and Geoff’s interjections:

I work in the IT department of a very large renowned insurance company headquartered in Germany. Unfortunately when I tell my circle of friends and relatives about my projects, they dismiss as conspiracy theory. Many people don’t see or understand what will happen to us with this great digitalization Revolution especially the possible dangers or misuse. Here is a small excerpt of the pilot projects that we are working on… the digitized car pilot projects which are already underway in the next 10 years.

It will no longer be possible to insure old cars. You’ll be forced to buy a digital car.

Obviously [says Geoff] we know that electric cars are all connected you can no longer have a simple charger. Your charger has to be smart so the charger knows how much you’re charging … and I and many others have been saying that it’s a red flag that you have to use an app on your phone to charge your car.]

… these cars are online 24/7 and in real time in touch with the insurance and traffic authorities for remote surveillance and surveillance of the authorities and that’s no joke. Depending on your driving style the time and the speed the type of driver, your insurance premium will automatically adjust (i.e. if you drive too fast or are too risky you will not only pay a fine to the magistrate but your insurance premium automatically increase). So let’s say you register your car to drive at night you’re a nighttime worker you get a higher premium and your car automatically knows that and feeds it back to the insurance company …

With the coming technological advances, digital ID and digital currency, we will be able to check the liquidity in real time via interfaces with banks and credit institutions as well as the tax circumstances of each customer.

They will have the power to stop any cars carrying “politically exposed people”. What could possibly go wrong?

… also planned and already scheduled as a pilot project for 2025 in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of defense and National Security — if a vehicle is registered to a politically exposed person and there is a suspected case … this person will no longer be able to start their vehicle. (It’s Minority Report). The car will be deactivated via remote monitoring. This applies to all private vehicles in which the politically exposed person sits, except officially registered ones, i.e. police cars. They’re talking about an RFID tag on your driving license that would stop you from even getting in anybody else’s car. A powerful RFID chip will be built into these digital ID cards. This enables a close coupling of 10 m but monitoring and localization with an accuracy of approximately 1,000 meters. This is of particular interest to the insurance company because in the event of damage we can more easily locate the people and acts of damage and crimes and those involved…
…hang on [says Geoff], so when the insurance companies present this to us — when the powers that be say… so if you have a crash we can find the people that did it and all the Karens will say that sounds like a great idea…

…we’re already involved in negotiations with the European digitalization and data protection managers to also be able to access this data in more detail. All justified under the name of “Security”.

They already know the flaws of batteries, and plan to use them as an excuse to collect taxes (after everyone has bought one):

In coming years owners of EVs will be forced to pay a battery tax instead of an engine tax, because batteries pose an increased risk of fire and are harmful to the environment…

Worse, some people will be able to afford safer driving software:

If you pay for better insurance, you’ll get a “higher level of autopilot”.

It would be a shame if you were a political dissident and your software had a bug, eh?

Big Brother Image by Micha|Data flow image by Reto Scheiwiller.|Police squad, Image by James Paramecio.

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