Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, Oct. 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IMS (Insurance & Mobility Solutions), part of Trak Global Group (TGG) and one of the world’s top three providers of connected car data solutions to insurers, mobility operators, OEMs and governments, is pleased to announce that IMS is the technology provider behind Utah’s Road Usage Charge program.
The increasing cost of road upgrade and maintenance, combined with the growing shift to hybrid and electric vehicles, is driving governments to embrace sustainable road pricing models. These new road charging approaches leverage road usage charge technology to price according to actual road usage due to decreasing fuel tax revenue which typically funds road upkeep. More than a decade ago, IMS extended the IMS DriveSync platform to pioneer government solutions that address global transportation funding, efficiency and environmental issues. This work enabled IMS to help the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) deliver the first road usage charge program in North America, and to subsequently power all successful production road usage charge programs in Washington, California, the United Kingdom, and now, Utah.
“IMS provides a sustainable, accurate, and efficient solution for governments to enable road usage charging,” said Dr. Ben Miners, Chief Innovation Scientist for IMS. “As a pioneer and leader in secure, scalable, and compliant road usage charge technology, powering all production deployments across North America, we are pleased to enable Utah and governments at all levels with modern, reliable and fair alternative revenue options to realize a sustainable future of transportation together.”
As part of a holistic approach to developing road usage charge programs, IMS also delivers relevant valued-added benefits to program participants through engaging and intuitive mobile apps. These proven mobile apps provide participants with driver safety coaching and behavioral feedback along with rewards and contest opportunities where appropriate. The design of IMS’ app benefits from global direct-to-consumer experience including the award-winning, tried-and-proven approach of IMS’ sister company and digital insurance broker, Carrot Insurance.
As a pioneer in road usage charge technology, IMS is the first to support both interstate interoperability and international interoperability, the first to offer high accuracy differentiated road schemes, and the first service provider to enable support for all possible data collection options. In fact, IMS ensures road usage charging solutions can be deployed using the broadest set of data collection options in the market, from apps and Bluetooth devices to OBD-II, OEM embedded telematics, J-Bus, custom install, and third-party TSPs for data sources. Along with providing simplicity and future benefits with a unified interface across data collection options, IMS processes, cleanses, and analyzes data to achieve maximum accuracy. The same IMS DriveSync platform used to enable road usage charging is also easily extensible to enable usage-based insurance (UBI), safety programs and other value-added services with IMS’ partners for the benefit of participants in the future.
For governments seeking more information on road usage charging by IMS, visit https://ims.tech/road-usage-charge/
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About IMS (Insurance & Mobility Solutions)
IMS is a leading connected car solutions provider delivering services and analytics to insurers, governments, automotive OEMs and mobility operators. IMS is the developer of the cloud-based DriveSync® connected car platform which has received industry acclaim for its ability to offer customers a data source-agnostic, multi-device strategy for service provision versus a single focused technology approach. IMS is part of Trak Global Group, an international connected solutions provider with technology deployed in over a dozen territories, and its own in-house telematics insurance business, Carrot Insurance. For more information, visit www.ims.tech.
About Carrot Insurance
Carrot Insurance, part of Trak Global Group, is a UK-based, award-winning, telematics insurance business. In 2015, Carrot received the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award for its work in reducing driver accident frequency, and launched Better Driver, one of the first app-based connected auto insurance products in the world. Carrot offers both hardware and app-based solutions to its policyholders, and has won multiple awards, including ‘Claims Partner of the Year’ in 2017 and ‘Best Consumer App” at the Insurance Times Tech & Innovation Awards in October 2019. For more information, visit www.carrotinsurance.com.
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