The revolution that did not happen: Telematics and car insurance in the 2010s

Pierre Francois (1) , Théo Voldoire (2)

1 CSO - Centre de sociologie des organisations (Sciences Po, CNRS)
2 Sciences Po - Sciences Po

Attempts to use Big Data to transform car insurance pricing in France have failed. Why? Three possible explanations are discussed: organisational and cognitive inertia, normative preventions, and deliberate strategy. This article finds that moral or political reluctance has played only a secondary role in the failure of telematics devices. More important has been the deployment of an experimental strategy that has resulted in the conclusion that in the short and medium term at least, the use of big data to rate car insurance is not profitable. There are too many organisational and cognitive barriers to the smooth adoption of innovation. All insurers note they all arrived at this conclusion. An implicit consensus therefore remains to retain the old business model.

Mots clés: Finance insurance big data innovation market sociology; Finance; insurance; big data; innovation; market; sociology

Domaines: Sociologie; Sciences de l'Homme et Société

Pierre Francois, Théo Voldoire. The revolution that did not happen: Telematics and car insurance in the 2010s. Big Data & Society, 2022, 9 (2), ⟨10.1177/20539517221142033⟩. ⟨hal-03889647⟩