Volvo Safety Coach App Monitors Driving for Insurance Discounts
Optional telematics app scores braking, acceleration, and cornering to offer usage-based insurance rates.
Safety Coach rolls out in Sweden and Norway
Volvo's new Safety Coach app is now rolling out in Sweden and Norway, available on 2020-and-newer models. The optional in-car app monitors braking, acceleration, and cornering, then produces a safety score covering the previous two weeks. That score can be shared with partner insurers for usage-based offers; high scorers may cut insurance costs. The app will also be integrated into the Volvo Cars mobile app.
Volvia partners for usage-based insurance
In Sweden and Norway, drivers who opt to share their Safety Coach data can access a special usage-based offer from insurance firm Volvia. Volvo says owners are not locked in after opting in: they can stop sharing data at any time and re-enable it later. The automaker hasn't disclosed which U.S. insurer will handle similar offers when the app launches stateside.
Built with Cambridge Mobile Telematics
Volvo developed Safety Coach with Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT), a company that describes itself as the world's largest telematics and AI firm for safer mobility. The collaboration underpins the app's scoring of driver behavior, a move that mirrors Tesla's Safety Score approach. For Volvo, the goal is to nudge drivers toward habits that reduce collision risk.
Predictable driving is safer, says Volvo expert
Mikael Ljung Aust, driver behaviour expert at Volvo Cars, says many accidents involve surprise. "Staying within expected speed ranges and avoiding abrupt manoeuvres makes your driving easier for others to anticipate and reduces the risk of a collision," he said. Volvo positions Safety Coach as a tool to turn such insights into safer everyday habits, supporting the company's goal of zero collisions.
Compatible with 2020-and-newer Google-based models
Safety Coach works on Volvos with a Google-based infotainment system from model year 2020 onward. That includes EVs such as the EX40, EC40, EX60, and EX90, plus combustion models like the XC40, S60, V60, XC60, XC90, and V90. The same lineup is expected to be supported in the U.S. when the app arrives there.
U.S. rollout planned, insurer still unnamed
Volvo says the Safety Coach app will later expand to the United States and other European markets, with insurance-related offers included. The company has not named which U.S. insurer will handle the customized offers. For now, the app is optional, and drivers can manage their own data, opting out of sharing with affiliated insurance companies and re-opting in whenever they choose.