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The AA launches driver monitoring joint venture

Published: 11:59 05 Jan 2016 GMT

Carwreck
The firm announced the launch of Intelematics Europe

Roadside recovery group the AA (LON:AA.) is getting back into the ‘black box’ market with its latest joint venture.

The firm announced the launch of Intelematics Europe, a project to monitor drivers, just a year after canning its telematics insurance products due to high costs.

It is looking to develop products that send data from vehicles to nearby roadside assistance clubs through a small device connected to the internet in an effort to respond to breakdowns more quickly.

The new venture will see the AA join an Australian data company with the same name, which already runs similar projects.

Several roadside assistance clubs in the Netherlands and Austria will also be involved.

Broker Liberum said: “Telematics is a clear growth market and a recent PWC report indicated that the in-car-technology market would be worth £76bn by the end of the decade and that 31% of new cars will have black-box technology globally in two years.

The AA has contracts with manufacturers selling 68% of new cars in the UK, “which leaves it well placed,” the broker added.

There is no financial impact at this stage, while the costs have already been included in the £5mln to £10mln of additional product development announced at the interims, Liberum noted.

Previously, the AA had its Drivesafe telematics car insurance, launched in 2012, which offered lower premiums for motorists who recorded themselves driving safely.

However, the company withdrew this scheme in 2014, blaming the high costs involved in monitoring the cars.

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