Telematics provider Risk Technology and driver behaviour specialists CAS have entered into a long-term partnership agreement which aims to improve driver safety and influence insurance product and pricing strategies.

The two companies will investigate and develop driver profiling by using data gathered from Risk’s worldwide network of telematics systems installed across fleets and individual vehicles.

CAS will use driver behaviour information such as acceleration and deceleration, cornering and journey length, to identify additional journey characteristics – such as drivers who spend much of their week on motorways or young drivers who travel on rural roads during high risk times.

This agreement follows the publication of research from CAS in May 2015, which found that telematics devices installed in consumer vehicles are able to accurately predict the likelihood of a motorist having an accident.

The research concluded that while other telematics companies base their predictions on a single driver score, much more accurate predictions of crash risk and maintenance cost can be produced by driver profiling that draws on the extensive range of factors that Risk’s platform is able to take into account.

Mark Packman, CEO at Risk Technology, said: “We’re delighted to be working with CAS and I am certain that our work will have far-reaching consequences for the insurance and automotive industries, as well as for individual motorists.

“Our joint study confirmed our belief that telematics solutions are accurately predicting the likelihood of drivers having a crash. We’re now looking to find out how our driver profiling methodology and algorithms can improve driver scoring.”

Chris Lloyd, managing director of CAS, said: “Risk’s global network of telematics devices and big data capabilities match up perfectly with our knowledge of driver behaviours and risk.

“This bodes well for the impact we can make on driver safety, driving performance and the value we can add to the fleet management and insurance industries.”