The Auto Prophet discovered something interesting – the hardware dongle for
Progressive’s TripSense program looks a heck of a lot
like Davis’ cool little CarChip datalogging device. Seeing as how
I actually own a CarChip, I’m just a bit jealous of the fact that he discovered this before I did, but oh well.
Now, the reason that this is interesting is the possibility of hacking such a device, as Davis supports this
activity by offering a development kit. The
advantages of being able to hack into a device that’s reporting driving habits to your insurance agency should be
pretty obvious.
Now, even if Progressive moves to a proprietary piece of hardware in the next stages of the program, does that really
matter? Na. If motivated individuals can hack the incredibly complex powertrain control modules used in modern
vehicles, then we think they’ll make short work of whatever Progressive comes up with next.