HDVI raises $32.5M to mitigate risk, lower insurance premiums – FreightWaves

In a 2020 report, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) found that fleets of over 1,000 power units reported insurance costs of 5.3 cents per mile, whereas those with fewer than 26 power units were paying over 15 cents per mile. 

ATRI found that these smaller fleets had lower adoption of active safety systems and a lack of risk management strategies to combat rising insurance costs.

Commercial auto insurance technology provider High Definition Vehicle Insurance (HDVI) Group looks to fill that gap for carriers, providing them tools to mitigate safety risk and ultimately reduce their insurance costs.

Its most recent product, HDVI Shift, can connect to a number of telematics devices, including Samsara, KeepTruckin, Lytx and Netradyne, to leverage its proprietary solutions for real-time safety analytics. 

While Shift helps fleet owners better manage their employees, drivers can also access this data through the HDVI Driver+ mobile app, providing complete transparency into individual safety risks.

These insights have enabled the company’s customers to save up to 12% on monthly premiums in its operating states of Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia and Texas.

On Wednesday, these initiatives led the company to close on its $32.5 million Series B funding led by Weatherford Capital with participation from Munich Re Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Daimler Trucks North America, Autotech Ventures, 8VC and McVestCo. The company has raised a total of $48.5 million since it was founded in 2017.

With the new funds, the company will continue to expand services into other states while providing new products and services to customers.

“HDVI Shift and Driver+ are just the first of many coverage and product innovations HDVI will bring to the industry. And as worldwide leaders in their respective industries, our partners provide unmatched global financial power and strategic product development and distribution opportunities to support this innovation as we build HDVI,” said Chuck Wallace, CEO and co-founder. 

Daimler Trucks North America’s participation in this round points to an increasing market for Truck-as-a-Service products, tools integrated during the manufacturing process to help fleets manage safety, privacy and intelligent automation tools.

A recent survey by the IBM Institute for Business Value (NYSE:IBM) found that by 2030, $465 billion of annual revenue for truck manufacturers will likely shift from vehicle sales to integrated services.

“The rising cost of insurance is a significant pain point for our fleet customers today, and providing better insurance solutions that are truly integrated with vehicle ownership life cycles and usage is an important initiative for Daimler Trucks North America and Daimler Truck Financial Services,” said Richard Howard, president and CEO of Daimler Truck Financial Services North America & Asia. 

“HDVI’s unique approach to insurance demonstrates their commitment to bringing fleets the technology, data and services they need to improve their business operations and impact their bottom lines. We look forward to working with HDVI to bring innovative connected insurance solutions and more to Daimler Trucks customers and the broader transportation industry.”