A new startup spun out from Allstate wants to use big data to determine how likely a person is to get into a car accident.
Last week Allstate officially unveiled Arity, a tech startup that collects billions of miles of sensor data from smartphones and vehicles to help companies evaluate the risk of a driver. Located in the Merchandise Mart at Allstate's Innovation Hub, Arity looks to create and sell new products and services to insurance companies and others in the automobile space.
Arity's goal, Allstate says, is to "revolutionize driver safety" by providing software to companies that gives insight into a person's driving behavior. Arity's algorithm will help insurer's better price a coverage plan for individual customers, for example.
Arity's software works with a vehicle's on-board diagnostics port and can track the car's performance. The technology will also help predict when a vehicle will break down before it malfunctions, Allstate says, which could make it useful for today's cars, as well as driverless vehicles.
“From ride-hailing apps to self-driving cars, the personal transportation industry is changing rapidly. We see this as a tremendous opportunity for Allstate to bring its history of innovation and data science to bear through Arity,” Arity President Gary Hallgren said in a statement. “Whether it’s a human or computer steering the wheel, we will always need to understand risk through models and algorithms."
Allstate says more than 200 technologists, software developers and data scientists are working on Arity. The startup counts Allstate, Esurance and Answer Financial, and Allstate says the service will be commercially available to other customers in 2017.
“Arity is at the center of a technological revolution that’s transforming the entire driving experience,” Hallgren added. “It’s a future where a consumer and the manufacturer can anticipate and diagnose an automotive break-down before it happens or a truck driver’s navigation system will default to the safest route. These are just a few of the possibilities, and we’re excited about the incredible potential of Arity’s platform to benefit businesses, consumers, and society.”
Image via Allstate
