Sony teams with Yahoo! to research telematics for insurance
Sony Assurance has partnered with Yahoo! Japan to develop new telematics insurance products and related services based on driving behaviour data from Yahoo's free car navigation app, which has been downloaded more than 10 million times. Sony Assurance has been developing pay-how-you-drive (PHYD) insurance to reduce policy premiums and improve driving safety. In February 2015 it became the first company in Japan to offer PHYD insurance.

Feb. 1, 2017

Sony Assurance Inc. ("Sony Assurance") , a wholly owned non-life insurance subsidiary of Sony Financial Holdings Inc., and Yahoo Japan Corporation ("Yahoo! JAPAN") today announced that the two companies will commence joint research with a view to developing new telematics insurance products and related services . The two companies will make use of driving behavior data obtained from Yahoo! JAPAN's free car navigation app for smartphones called," Yahoo! Car Navigation", which has been downloaded more than 10 million times.

Sony Assurance will ask some of its policyholders to cooperate in this research. After obtaining their consent, the Company plans to conduct monitor testing and research for an approximately one year period, beginning in spring 2017. Policyholders who agree to participate in the monitor testing will use "Yahoo! Car Navigation", and Sony Assurance plans to use the driving behavior data, such as travel speed, rapid acceleration and hard braking acquired from the testing, in order to develop a Pay-How-You-Drive type ("PHYD type") insurance product, a type of telematics insurance.

Sony Assurance has been working to develop PHYD type automobile insurance, which reflects individual risks in insurance premiums, with the aim of offering outstanding coverage at reasonable premiums for customers. In February 2015, Sony Assurance became the first company in Japan to offer PHYD type of automobile insurance called "Gentle Driving Cash-Back Plan" which reflects such driving behavior as acceleration and deceleration into insurance premiums.

Meanwhile Yahoo! JAPAN, not only navigates users to their destinations, but provides services aimed at raising drivers' safety awareness and enhancing driving convenience through "Yahoo! Car Navigation", a free car navigation app for smartphones. "Yahoo! Car Navigation" is part of the "Yahoo! Car Navigation Plus*2", a car telematics business concept, and Yahoo! JAPAN has been considering ways to collaborate with the automotive insurance field which is directly linked with safe driving practices.

Through this collaboration between Sony Assurance and Yahoo! JAPAN, the two companies aim to use their expertise to develop new services that will support safe driving and help prevent accidents, consider the development of new insurance products that are even more reasonably priced, and help reduce automobile accidents.

*1 Driving behavior data will be obtained only from users who agree to participate in monitor tests, and used for the joint reserach. The driving behavior data thus obtained will include information on acceleration and deceleration, cornering, travel speed and conditions of roads traveled. Customer travel histories (location information) will not be obtained except when actions such as rapid acceleration, hard breaking or sudden turning are detected. Furthermore, Sony Assurance will not use driving behavior data other than for the purposes of developing insurance products and services.

*2 Aimed at providing higher added value to "users of car spaces," this is the name of the car telematics business concept in which Yahoo! JAPAN forms alliances with partner companies in domains that have a high affinity with" Yahoo! Car Navigation".

Note: This is an English-language summary of a Japanese announcement made by Sony Assurance and Yahoo! JAPAN on February 1, 2017. The summary was prepared by Sony Financial Holdings Inc. solely for the convenience of non-Japanese readers.