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How Intelligent Risk Scores can make Driving Safer

Insurance CIO Outlook | Monday, September 16, 2019

Driver risk evaluation through an app is empowering stakeholders to score drivers and carry out training to increase safety on roads.   

FREMONT, CA: eDriving, a leading company providing driver risk management solutions, has partnered with analytics firm FICO and has launched FICO® Safe Driving Score 2.0. The latest version is much more optimized and effective than the previous one and is available in eDriving’s Mentor app, which is a driver risk management solution. With this version, users will be able to consistently measure the risk associated with driving behavior and thus, can work towards mitigating them.  

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FICO® Safe Driving Score makes commercial fleet management safer and reduces the risks associated with collisions. The offering is specially designed for safety management and helps organizations quantify driver behavior, thereby allowing the categorization of driving into 'low risk’ and 'high risk' groups. According to the makers, 'high risk' involves those cases, which are 30 percent more likely to face an accident in the future. Overall, the new version has 18 percent better accuracy in the predictions it makes.

“We designed the latest FICO® Safe Driving Score to take an even deeper look at driving behaviors in order to improve the ability to predict driver risk. As we continue to innovate the FICO® Safe Driving Score to be the industry standard, our goal is to provide transparent and valuable insights to keep all drivers safe,” says Rachel Bell, Vice President of Scores and Analytics at FICO, while talking about the valuable product and its capabilities. It is worth mentioning that FICO® Safe Driving Score 2.0 took its data set from the Strategic Highway Research Program 2 (SHRP 2) study and thus its decision-making is based on naturalistic and large-scale driving data.   

The analytics prowess of FICO and data sets from eDriving are combined to give shape to FICO® Safe Driving Score 2.0. When used, the solution takes into consideration several driving-related factors like speeding patterns, braking patterns, acceleration, and overtaking habits. By comparing these with proven risk-related data from the repository, the application generates risk scores and helps evaluate the possibility of collisions in the future. Drivers receive individual scores immediately after the trip, and managers can identify potentially risky drivers in their fleets. “Using a combination of leading indicators obtained from telematics as well as traditional data sources such as MVRs/license checks, and collision data, we create a holistic view of risk,” says Ed Dubens, the CEO and founder of eDriving.    

Apart from the instant feedback in the form of scores, FICO® Safe Driving Score 2.0 also provides drivers with training modules which are aimed towards helping them improve their scores. These are quick and easy to cover since they are just 3 to 5 minutes long. The scores also help fleet managers acknowledge and encourage those drivers with scores that point towards good driving skills, and higher safety. "Working with a leading analytics company like FICO who consistently innovates the FICO® Safe Driving Score model to provide the best possible picture of evaluating driver risk is ideal. It helps us achieve our goal of ensuring all drivers return safely to their loved ones at the end of each day," says Ed Dubens mentioning about the partnership.  

eDriving is one of the rankers in the list of Top 10 Risk Management Solution Companies 2019, Insurance CIO Outlook. “By offering immediate feedback after a trip, we’re providing drivers and managers with the insights and tools they need to continually improve their behavior behind the wheel,” says Ed Dubens. The company has a history of more than 20 years and holds a patent for its driver risk management program, which garners driving-related insights and assists companies to minimize exposure to crashes. eDriving has been helping its clients, insurers, and asset managers to reduce collisions by up to 67 percent and generate an ROI of 20-40 percent.    

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