San Francisco: U.S. insurer Lemonade said on Wednesday it would offer a 50% rate cut for drivers of Tesla electric vehicles when the automaker’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver assistance software is steering because it had data showing it reduced accidents.
Lemonade’s move is an endorsement of Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s claims that the company’s vehicle technology is safer than human drivers, despite concerns flagged by regulators and safety experts. As part of a collaboration, Tesla is giving Lemonade access to vehicle telemetry data that will be used to distinguish between miles driven by FSD – which requires a human driver’s supervision – and human driving, the New York-based insurer said. The price cut is for Lemonade’s pay-per-mile insurance.
“Teslas driven with FSD are involved in far fewer accidents,” Lemonade Co-Founder Shai Wininger said in a statement. “By connecting to the Tesla onboard computer, our models are able to ingest incredibly nuanced sensor data that lets us price our insurance with higher precision.” Tesla already offers its own insurance plan with a monthly discount of up to 10% for drivers who use FSD for more than 50% of the miles.
