Monitoring individual driving behaviors and patterns to determine insurance premiums is becoming more widespread. Or, as Hyundai's executive director of Digital Business Planning and Connected Operations, Manish Mehrotra, puts it: "As demand for more transparent auto insurance pricing grows, usage-based insurance is a powerful way for Hyundai drivers to have greater control over their insurance costs."

The key to this is Hyundai's new Driving Score tool, available through the Hyundai Blue Link system we experienced recently on the new Sonata and Elantra. The tool enables drivers to "share their driving habits with the Verisk Data Exchange and potentially earn discounts from insurance companies that use the Verisk system." According to Hyundai, that includes three of the ten largest US insurance carriers.

Before hitting the comments to all-caps about privacy, bear in mind this is an opt-in service. Hyundai drivers will choose whether to share insights of key driving characteristics with a proven correlation to insurance losses. Hyundai highlights those as smooth driving, speed responsibility, driving time of day, consistent driving, and time behind the wheel.

The Driving Score will be calculated weekly with a worst-to-best score on a range of 0-100. Hyundai can then offer feedback in the form of tips to help customers improve driving habits, become safer drivers, increase fuel economy, and, ultimately, improve their driving scores. Hyundai isn't the first to offer this kind of service, but it looks like it may be the most comprehensive so far.

"Providing our drivers with engaging tools that can promote safer driving habits and unlock new insurance discounts is awesome. Our owners expect this kind of technology and want to pay the right amount. No one wants to pay more than they actually should," Mehrotra points out. We should also point out that how and when someone drives is only a part of how insurance risk will be assessed.

The Verisk Data Exchange is the largest platform of its kind and uses artificial intelligence and advanced analytics to help insurers make optimal decisions using telematics programs. "The Verisk Data Exchange was built to make usage-based insurance easier and more accessible," said Karthik Balakrishnan, senior vice president and general manager of Verisk's telematics business. "Hyundai shares this vision and together, we look forward to this new collaboration and its many benefits for consumers as well as auto insurers."