Sprint and Intelligent Mechantronic Systems, a Canada-basedconnected car company, have teamed up to offer usage-basedinsurance services through Sprint's Integrated Insurance Solutionportfolio for auto insurance customers.

IMS UBIIntelligence offers insurers the opportunity to develop policypremiums based on actual driving behavior, and discover new,related revenue streams, the companies said. Customers who chooseto install telematics devices into their vechicles may receivelower auto insurance costs based on their driving data, includingdistance traveled, vehicle braking and acceleration patterns.

IMS UBI Intelligence removes the need for insurers to work withmultiple suppliers or partners before implementation, the companiessay. “We have selected IMS because they provide the most complete,turnkey solution available on the market today, including hardware,logistics, support, secure data warehousing and analytics,” says Mohamed Nasser, director-M2M Product and Marketing,Sprint.

By 2017, it's estimated that more than 60% of the world'svehicles will be connected. Progressive, which launched the firsttelematics product in 1998, has reported more than $1 billion inpremium revenue for usage-based insurance policies. Progressive forecasts that more than 25% of theentire U.S. automotive-insurance premium revenue will be generatedvia telematics by 2020, representing more than $30 billion.

Sprint plans to expand the program with services that coachyoung drivers, infotainment services, vehicle diagnostics and fleetmanagement.