A new type of Big Brother – or “Grand Frère” – technology has been installed in cars by a popular French manufacturer to score driving performance and will deduct points for speeding, following another vehicle too closely and straying over white lines between lanes.
Renault’s ‘Safety Score’ will give owners a personalised score out of 100 at the end of every journey in the hope that drivers will compete against each other to get the best ratings and improve road safety.
The markings are removed if any of the vehicle’s advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are activated during the journey, including lane assist, automatic emergency braking and the latest technology fitted to new models starting this week, Intelligent Speed Assist (ISA) alerts.
The big question is: will your insurer be informed if you have a bad rating?
Renault’s Safety Score feature gives owners a score out of 100 for their driving performance on each journey. Points are deducted if safety features such as lane-change assist and automatic emergency braking are engaged during the journey. But what does it do with the data?
The safety score feature was first launched by the French automotive giant in January 2023 as part of its “Human First” campaign to address road safety.
It will be fitted to all models in its range, including the Clio supermini, the upcoming 5 EV and European Car of the Year winner Scenic E-Tech.
This is a form of “telematic” driving monitoring, which is becoming a popular insurance product to help young people reduce their premiums by allowing insurers to track their behaviour on the road.
The feature will be available in the UK after the summer on new Renault models, a Renault spokesperson told This is Money.
Renault’s technology rates each trip out of 100 and points are removed if ADAS safety features are activated during the trip.
For example, if a driver deviates from the white lines dividing lanes on a motorway and the car’s lane assist system issues an alert or steers the vehicle back into the lane, points will be deducted.
The markings are removed if the car’s autonomous emergency braking (AEB) feature intervenes to automatically apply the brakes when it believes a collision with a vehicle or object in front is imminent.
Points will be deducted if cameras and radars linked to adaptive cruise control have alerted the user that they are travelling too close to a vehicle in front and if a driver drowsiness warning has been activated during the journey.
The feature will be fitted to all models in the Renault range, including the Clio supermini, the upcoming 5 EV and its European Car of the Year winner, the Scenic E-Tech (pictured)
The safety score for each trip will be deducted if advanced driver assistance systems such as lane change assist are activated. At the end of each trip, drivers receive a score out of 100.
The markings are also removed if the vehicle’s autonomous emergency braking (AEB) function intervenes and if the cameras and radars linked to the adaptive cruise control have alerted the user that they are travelling too close to a vehicle in front.
It will also be linked to the ISA speed-limiting technology, which is being fitted to most new cars sold in the UK from this week due to an EU mandate that comes into force on 7 July.
ISA uses a combination of data from GPS, satellite navigation, speed sign recognition cameras and front-facing cameras to identify what the speed limit is at any given time and determine whether the vehicle is exceeding it.
If the vehicle exceeds the limit, drivers receive a series of warnings asking them to reduce speed.
These can be visual alerts on the instrument panel or display, a short audible warning, or a gentle vibration of the steering wheel when the limit is exceeded. Manufacturers can use a combination of these three options or all three.
If the driver repeatedly ignores the alerts, the system can even intervene by restricting engine power to automatically reduce the speed to the legal limit.
All new Renaults sold in dealerships today are equipped with ISA, which cannot be deactivated completely, but can be switched off at the start of each journey.
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Each time an ISA alert is triggered, this will also affect the score drivers receive at the end of their trip.
In addition to the safety scoring feature, Renault will come with a ‘Safety Coach’ system, which will advise owners on how to improve their driving to get a better score out of 100 next time.
And following in the footsteps of exercise apps like Strava and Fitbit, The times The French company is set to create an online leaderboard so drivers can post their scores against others they know who also drive Renaults.
Like ISA, the Renault safety scoring feature cannot be disabled, but it can be turned off every time the car’s engine is started.
The data collected by this feature will also help Renault identify and map high-risk road sections, which can then alert drivers via the satellite navigation system to warn them to drive more carefully.
The system will also allow Renault to map specific danger points on stretches of road and then alert drivers of approaching dangerous routes via the sat-nav.
Will Renault inform insurers about its poor driving rating?
The Times reports that Safety Score results can be stored and made available to drivers to give to insurers for lower premiums.
This would be similar to motorists taking out “black box” telematics insurance policies, which are growing in popularity among new drivers facing sky-high premiums.
By installing a black box in their cars, young drivers can get cheaper insurance by allowing their provider to monitor whether they are safe behind the wheel or not.
Good driving performance is rewarded with ever-reducing insurance premiums, while frequent instances of drivers exceeding speed limits, accelerating too hard or braking too hard can be used to drive up prices.
It is unclear whether safety scores recorded in Renault’s system can be shared with insurers, and the carmaker declined to comment when contacted by This is Money.
However, the French brand has suggested that the feature will be used to encourage “a positive attitude and not point the finger at anyone.”
Experts have recently warned car manufacturers that they need to be more transparent with drivers about new safety technologies being installed in engines, especially ISA.
Yousif Al Ani, principal ADAS engineer at automotive risk intelligence firm Thatcham Research, said manufacturers need to address concerns that driver-assistance safety features will not “interfere” with the driving experience.
“Striking a balance between safety, performance and integration to create systems that cooperate with drivers is a real challenge for manufacturers,” he explained.
Drivers should also be aware that ISA is an assistance system and that they remain responsible for the safety of their vehicles.
‘Incorrect information provided by the ISA does not exempt drivers from breaking the speed limit.’
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