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Driving in the city is no walk in the park, and comes with a lot of annoyances and errors. It’s either weaving in and out of rush hour traffic or searching for parking that doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg and avoiding parking tickets. Luckily, digital innovations are making city driving a little easier.

Dude, where’s my car?
When circling the four-block radius near your apartment over and over again looking for a spot, you end up parking in a different location each night. The next day, you find yourself scrambling to remember where you left that piece of machinery. With the Metromile Pulse (given to all per-mile insurance customers), a car locator will keep you notified on your smartphone on where your car is at all time. Metromile has even helped customers recover their stolen car with this feature!

Orange is not the new black
We’ve all thought about what would happen if you just ripped up that orange envelope left on your dashboard when you accidentally parked on street sweeping day, forgot to pay the meter, or turned your wheels the wrong way on a hill. In this digital age, ripping up the ticket isn’t an option, but avoiding the ticket all together is! Here are some hot tips:

• Nothing is more confusing than street sweeping days. In Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego, the Pulse will send a street sweeping alert to your smartphone if you are parked on that street and can save you that big fine.
• Many cities now have mobile payments available for their parking meters (such as Parkmobile or PayByPhone) making feeding the meter that much easier, even if it runs out while you’re still enjoying dinner.
• In the Bay Area and other hilly cities, remember to turn your wheels in a way that if the car were to roll, the curb would stop the fall. So, parking uphill you would turn your wheels away from the curb, and parking downhill you would turn your wheels towards the curb. Then pull the parking brake.
• Speed racer slow down! Apps like Waze, Escort and Garmin U.S.A pull in data for red light cameras and gives users the ability to tag police-car locations to help driver avoid those pesky driving tickets.

One way…or another
You might not admit it, but you’ve probably been there. You’re cruising to Crossfit, belting out your favorite jams, when you spot a shortcut, take a left and– you’re headed the wrong way on a one-way street. Don’t panic, but quickly assess the situation before making your next move to pull over and circle back. Download the Google Maps or Waze app to be sure you have the shortest – and safest – trip to your destination.

With Metromile’s pay-per-mile car insurance offering, not only could you save a ton of money on insurance, but you also get access to helpful things like sweet sweeping alerts and a car locator. Metromile’s smart driving app gives you information on trips and trends, fuel levels, car health diagnoses and more. Learn more here!

Breakthroughs in self-driving car technology are becoming more frequent, but the concept might still seem very far-off. Before you brush off the idea of driverless cars, thinking it won’t apply to your own life anytime soon, think again. It’s looking pretty likely that autonomous technology will be available for the masses in the next decade or so! If you are wondering why this is such a big deal, here are four ways that self-driving cars will revolutionize the way we get around.

1. Taxis (and Uber and Lyft) will be a lot cheaper. Since the cost of a driver will be removed from the equation, it will be much less expensive to operate taxis and all ridesharing platforms. That means cheaper rides for everyone! Because of the lower prices, many people will opt to take taxis versus driving their own car, which means there will be fewer cars on the road. This also means less traffic and less demand for parking. The best news? This is one of the most likely scenarios to happen soon, as Uber and Lyft are key proponents of autonomous technology and already putting forth substantial efforts into its development.
2. Lives will be saved. Self-driving cars won’t be capable of doing risky (and illegal) things like speeding or drinking and driving, which means there will be far fewer accident-related deaths. In 2013, car accidents killed 32,000 people, which means we could save close to that many lives with the intelligence of self-driving cars.
3. There will be less pollution. While we don’t know the exact specifications of self-driving cars, it’s presumed that they will have substantial energy efficiency benefits. A new report from the Intelligent Transportation Society is one of the first to quantify the benefits and projects a 2-4% reduction in oil consumption and related greenhouse gas emissions each year as “intelligent transportation systems” become available to the masses.
4. The elderly will have more mobility. Self-driving cars will make it easier for the elderly and those who are vision impaired to get around since they will no longer have to rely on a driver to take them places. This will give them the freedom to move around according to their own schedules.

It’s pretty clear that the introduction of self-driving cars could have a significant impact on our everyday lives. Here at Metromile, we are especially excited to see how autonomous technology evolves and develops, as we are positioned to adapt our per-mile insurance model. Because we are able to segment periods of time (like with our Uber partnership where we can identify if a driver is driving for Uber or personal use), we’ll be able to help distinguish between when a car is controlled by a human or a computer. And if per-mile insurance is truly a future-proof concept, why not get started and start saving money today? Learn more at metromile.com/insurance.

You likely live a busy life and want to get from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible. Driving your car can be a good option when you are in a pinch, but with new innovations, public transportation is also a viable alternative. An alternative that doesn’t require circling around to find a parking spot! Since it’s safe to say teleportation won’t be happening anytime soon, here are some ways that public transit is becoming faster, easier and more enjoyable.

Get there faster with rapid transit.
The first rapid bus lines should be up and running in the Bay Area by 2018. A sort of hybrid between a bus and subway, rapid bus lines have dedicated lanes to free them of car traffic, and platforms to ensure seamless boarding. Over on the East Coast, Virginia recently debuted the Metroway system, a similar concept where a new fleet of buses travel in a dedicated lane and breeze by traffic.

Take a free ride on the hyped-up hyperloop.
Want to travel at the speed of sound? How about for free? There has been lots of hype surrounding the Hyperloop, an Elon Musk project (AKA the same guy who brought about the Tesla) that promises to bring travelers from SF to LA in 30 minutes. Now, Dirk Ahlborn, the CEO of the project, is dropping hints that the trip could potentially be free or significantly discounted. Now that’s something we could get on board with.

Make the ride more enjoyable.
Even if your commute is fast, the last thing you want to deal with is crowds, and in the winter especially, the germs that come with it. The Cyclean, which recently won the Red Dot Award (an international product design prize), reinvents the typical handle by introducing a built-in cleaning function. While there aren’t any cities cities are currently planning to use this technology, it is reassuring to know that it’s out there! The Chicago Transit Authority is also helping to ensure a more enjoyable experience with the Courtesy Campaign, an award-winning ad campaign that humorously shames riders into avoiding annoying practices like blocking doorways, eating smelly food or littering.

If you find yourself driving less and taking public transportation more, you could save a ton of money (like more than $500) with Metromile’s pay-per-mile car insurance offering. It’s great way to save for people who drive less than 200 miles per week – learn more here!

It’s about that time when those “pie in the sky” resolutions start to fade away. Luckily, you can set new intentions whenever you want! If you are looking for a new (and attainable) goal to work towards this year, we’ve got a great one for you. Start driving less. With a myriad of alternative transportation options (hoverboard, anyone?) it’s easier than ever to reduce your car’s mileage. Driving less will save you a ton of money and also alleviate pollution and traffic. It’s a win for both your wallet and the environment! So without further ado, here are some tips on how to drive less this year.

Get some fresh air. If you live close to where you work, you have the luxury of biking or walking instead of driving. Stop letting excuses like shorter days, tired legs and chillier temperatures prevent you from getting a little exercise every morning. None of these things are deal breakers, and even if you try it once a week or mornings only, that’s still a big improvement from solely relying on your car. Bonus: conquer two goals at once if you resolved to get more fit this year. Your Fitbit will thank you!

Sharing is caring. Chances are you aren’t the only person driving a similar route to work — daily traffic is proof of that. Team up with others in your neighborhood and start a weekly carpool. You won’t have to drive every day, so you’ll save on gas and also sneak in some valuable work or reading time when you aren’t behind the wheel. There are lots of apps that can aid in this endeavor, like Carma and Ride, which match you with nearby commuters. Even tech giants like Uber and Google’s Waze are testing carpooling programs, which could be the driving force needed to make carpooling the norm.

Save money with pay-per-mile car insurance. Now that you are driving less, you could save a ton of money with Metromile. Our pay-per-mile car insurance offering is great for people who drive under 200 miles a week, which happens to be 65% of the U.S.! On average, we are saving our customers $500 a year. Try getting a quick, free quote to see how much you could save.

Give public transit another chance. Maybe you had a bad experience with a bus constantly being late, or assumed public transportation is just too complicated without actually trying it. Cities are working harder than ever to provide reliable and affordable public transportation options, and with transit apps like Quicky and Transit, you’ll be able to accurately gauge bus arrival time, plan routes and more. It’s totally fine to rely on your car when you are running late, but try getting up a few minutes earlier some mornings to catch the bus.

Plan some road trips. We aren’t advocating that you go cold turkey and give up your car entirely. Use some of the money you’re saving and relish in the freedom that owning a car gives you by hitting the open road! Unleash your inner weekend warrior and plan a trip to the mountains for some skiing, or start conjuring plans about where you could drive when the weather gets nicer. Check out our road trip guide for inspiration!

We recently shared a brief history of how Metromile became the pioneer of pay-per-mile car insurance — there’s more to that story. While we spearheaded the idea of plugging a device into your car to measure mileage, many other insurance companies are using a similar model to offer car insurance discounts, but monitoring driving behavior as well. The term “usage-based insurance” is becoming increasingly popular, so it’s important to understand that not all usage-based programs are the same. Let’s dive in and explore the things to consider when choosing the right usage-based insurance for your needs.

There are many factors that can affect your car insurance premium, such as driving history, the model of your car or your geographic location. That’s because typically, these are indicators that can predict how likely an accident might be. Many insurance companies have deemed driving behavior to be one of the most important indicators since a driver who frequently slams the breaks is likely at a higher risk to be involved in an accident. That’s why insurance companies offer safe driving programs, where they reward good driving behavior with insurance discounts. The trade in? Your driving behavior will be monitored, and the occasional mistake could affect your premium. The way insurers measure safety varies, but some of the most common factors include the time of day, average speed, sudden acceleration and hard braking.

Here at Metromile, we only measure mileage and not behavior. We believe that risk is determined primarily by the amount of time you are in the car. If you aren’t behind the wheel, you aren’t going to be in a car accident! That’s why with pay-per-mile car insurance, the amount you pay is based on the miles you drive. Because we base your monthly bill on exact mileage, we typically save low-mileage drivers (under 200 miles per week) a lot of money compared to the discounts offered by other usage-based programs. On average, our customers are saving $500 a year!

So what’s the best usage-based program for you? It depends on your driving style and how much you drive. According to The Zebra, most usage-based insurance programs offer about 10-15% discounts. If you don’t drive much, you could see much more significant savings (like over $500!) with Metromile’s pay-per-mile car insurance offering. Find out how much you could save by getting a quote with Metromile!

It’s good to start the year off with positive intentions, like resolving to lose weight, to stop smoking or to keep better care of your vehicle. There are a couple of simple things that we can do to keep our vehicles more reliable and safe through the entire year, so here are my car maintenance tips on how to get your vehicle ready for 2016.

1. Check the battery. Most batteries are designed to last approximately 5 years. Batteries begin their life with around 650 CCA (Cold Cranking Amps), which is the amount of reserve capacity that the battery can hold. With a new battery, you can (but shouldn’t) leave your lights on for hours and your car will still start. As the battery “ages,” the internal plates develop oxidation and cannot produce the same amount of reserve capacity. There is little we can do to prevent or slow this process down, so we need to make sure we change the battery before it leaves us stranded. Batteries typically have a date code imprinted on them, so you can look to see when the battery was installed. If it is close to that 5-year limit, have it changed. Sometimes, your car will let you know the battery is getting weak by cranking slowly upon start up. If you think the engine sounds slower than normal, you are probably correct. Most automotive repair shops will do a complimentary battery and charging system inspection, so be proactive and have this done sooner rather than later.

2. Check your tires. There are three things to check for while looking at your tires. The first and most easy is to check is the air pressure in all five tires. Wondering how a car can have five wheels!? The spare tire, which is usually in the trunk, often gets missed when the vehicle is serviced. There is nothing more frustrating than getting a flat tire and finding out your spare is flat as well. There should be a sticker on the driver’s door jamb that has your car’s recommended tire pressure, so do yourself a favor and fill up all of the tires to the correct pressure.

The next thing to check is the tire tread depth and condition. All tires will have as “wear indicator” that lets you know when the tread has reached 2/32 of an inch. This wear indicator is discreet and located between some of the tread blocks. If the tire tread is the same depth as the wear indicator, it is time to change your tires.

Lastly, we need to make sure that the tires are not too old. Rubber can dry out over time and cause the tires to get hard and eventually fail due to age. The Department of Transportation (DOT) recommends changing your tires when they are 10 years old. You can determine how old your tires are by locating the DOT number on one side, and the last four digits of that number designate the week and year that tire was manufactured. If the tire read DOT 45684 2512, they were made in the 25th week of 2012. Now just because you bought your tires a few years ago does not mean that the tires are only a few years old. Tires can be several years old before you purchase them. Give your tires a good look at and you might prevent a roadside catastrophe.

These are just two simple things we can do as a New Year’s Resolution to keep our vehicles safe and reliable. In my opinion, they take way less time than making it to the gym!

Here at Metromile, we pride ourselves on being pioneers of the pay-per-mile car insurance model, providing a fair and affordable insurance for low-mileage drivers. Technically, we weren’t the first to introduce this idea, but we were (and still are!) the leaders in making it seamless, scalable and easy for everyone. We were founded exactly five years ago, and now have customers in seven states, from California to New Jersey (with many more coming soon). In celebration of our 5th birthday, let’s take a step back and explore how we got to where we are today.

One of the first times the per-mile insurance concept was introduced was in a report by William Vickrey in 1968, and later in a  report by the Brookings Institution in 2008. They hypothesized that if people paid for insurance by the mile, they would be incentivized to drive less since their bill would be based on mileage. The less someone drives, the less they would pay. To prove out the Brooking’s Institution’s theory, we recently ran a study with the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale University and found that our customers are already driving 6% less after switching to Metromile. This seemingly small number can actually have a significant impact on our economy and environment, especially if everyone reduced their driving by this amount. The benefits to per-mile insurance are clear, but the major insurance companies have been wary to use this model since low-mileage drivers (65% of the US, to be exact) are subsidizing the small handful of people that drive the most.

There have been a few smaller companies that ventured to test a per-mile insurance model, but they required setup that wasn’t exactly user-friendly. One company required a mechanic to install a mysterious black box in the car, and another relied on consumer-submitted photos taken of the odometer reading. None of them made for a hassle-free experience, which is necessary for the person that only occasionally uses their car.

That’s where Metromile comes in. We knew there was a need for a more fair car insurance, but the solution couldn’t involve complicated setups or time-consuming reports. Technology would be an important factor to measure miles driven, and it needed to be plug-and-play. Your mechanic already uses your on-board diagnostics port (OBD) to obtain car health data, so why not use the same port to gather mileage data? We had a solution, and the catalyst was that the sensors we needed to do this become inexpensive and reliable. So in 2011, we introduced a simple way for low-mileage drivers to save money with pay-per-mile car insurance. Just plug a device (we call it the Pulse) into the OBD-port of your car, and it will automatically track mileage. On average, we are saving our customers $500 a year, so we are pretty confident in our solution.

So where are we off to next? There are a lot of exciting stops on our roadmap, from state launches to helpful new app features. If you are currently a Metromile customer, we could not have gotten here without you, so we thank you all for your support. And if you aren’t currently a customer and don’t drive much, you can learn more about our innovative pay-per-mile insurance offering here!

The past year was big regarding transportation innovations, and we anticipate 2016 to be even more momentous. As we look forward to a new year of breakthroughs, let’s take a look at the technology that is already paving the way.

Consumers take control with the connected car.
The internet-of-things is in full force, and we don’t expect things to slow down anytime soon. One of the key drivers of this trend lies within the automobile industry, and connected car technology is already redefining the way we get around. In 2015, Microsoft, Google and Apple all announced plans for proprietary connected car platforms, bringing mobile phone functionality to your car’s console, signifying that this will likely become the norm very soon.

This technology has still not reached the masses, so if you don’t have one of the brand-new smart cars touting fancy touch screen dashboards or augmented reality, you can still enjoy the connected car experience with recent innovations. Gone are the days when you had to struggle with a clicker to open your garage, now the door can automatically open upon your arrival! In fact, the connected car industry, including apps specifically designed for cars and enhanced navigation, is estimated to grow to nearly $290 billion by 2020. Here at Metromile, we are definitely on top of this trend. All of our customers receive the Pulse, which plugs into a car’s OBD port to measure exact mileage and provide smart services like a car locator and a car health monitor. By using technology to measure exact mileage, we can save our low-mileage customers a lot of money.

The automotive industry capitalizes on big data.
Big data is another trend that continued to gain significant traction in 2015, and just like connected car technology, it is having a huge impact in the automotive industry. Manufacturers, insurers and transportation providers all have access to massive amounts of data, and if analyzed and applied correctly, can revolutionize the way they operate. Service and warranty repair data, user sentiment surrounding specific features and real-world vehicle performance are all things that can be measured to inform future car models. Even supply chain management can benefit from a better usage of big data — workflow software is already helping to uncover potential flaws while a car part is still in the blueprint stage. As Metromile’s CEO Dan Preston points out in a recent Huffington Post piece, the insurance sector is surprisingly antiquated when it comes to big data, but at Metromile, we are capitalizing on it by basing the monthly bill off of exact mileage. …

The past year was big regarding transportation innovations, and we anticipate 2016 to be even more momentous. As we look forward to a new year of breakthroughs, let’s take a look at the technology that is already paving the way.

Consumers take control with the connected car.
The internet-of-things is in full force, and we don’t expect things to slow down anytime soon. One of the key drivers of this trend lies within the automobile industry, and connected car technology is already redefining the way we get around. In 2015, Microsoft, Google and Apple all announced plans for proprietary connected car platforms, bringing mobile phone functionality to your car’s console, signifying that this will likely become the norm very soon.

This technology has still not reached the masses, so if you don’t have one of the brand-new smart cars touting fancy touch screen dashboards or augmented reality, you can still enjoy the connected car experience with recent innovations. Gone are the days when you had to struggle with a clicker to open your garage, now the door can automatically open upon your arrival! In fact, the connected car industry, including apps specifically designed for cars and enhanced navigation, is estimated to grow to nearly $290 billion by 2020. Here at Metromile, we are definitely on top of this trend. All of our customers receive the Pulse, which plugs into a car’s OBD port to measure exact mileage and provide smart services like a car locator and a car health monitor. By using technology to measure exact mileage, we can save our low-mileage customers a lot of money.

The automotive industry capitalizes on big data.
Big data is another trend that continued to gain significant traction in 2015, and just like connected car technology, it is having a huge impact in the automotive industry. Manufacturers, insurers and transportation providers all have access to massive amounts of data, and if analyzed and applied correctly, can revolutionize the way they operate. Service and warranty repair data, user sentiment surrounding specific features and real-world vehicle performance are all things that can be measured to inform future car models. Even supply chain management can benefit from a better usage of big data — workflow software is already helping to uncover potential flaws while a car part is still in the blueprint stage. As Metromile’s CEO Dan Preston points out in a recent Huffington Post piece, the insurance sector is surprisingly antiquated when it comes to big data, but at Metromile, we are capitalizing on it by basing the monthly bill off of exact mileage. …

We’re rapidly growing at Metromile, so as we scale, we are excited to announce that John Orta has joined Metromile as General Counsel and will oversee our legal, HR and recruiting teams. Before Metromile, John was Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at OpenTable (where you likely make all of your online restaurant reservations). In addition to serving on the executive team, he was responsible for all aspects of the company’s legal, HR, recruiting, fraud and risk teams, as well as the Chief Compliance Officer. John led the legal team during the company’s IPO and Secondary Offering in 2009, and OpenTable’s purchase by The Priceline Group in 2014. He also received the GC Impact Award from The Recorder in 2014 (a leading legal publication), so he’s kind of a big deal. To get to know John a little better, we had him answer a few quick questions.

What excites you the most about joining Metromile?
I honestly can’t limit it to one thing. First, I love companies that help people, and at Metromile not only do we provide a great insurance product that can provide substantial savings to our customers, but our app also has a suite of features that makes car ownership easier. That is a fantastic combination. Second, the people that work here are world-class and I could not be more excited to join this wonderful team and tackle the opportunity in front of us.

How do you commute to work?
I’m a BART guy. Even when it is crowded, I enjoy it. What I really need to do, however, is ride my bike to BART and burn some extra calories. That should be my new year’s resolution (but it isn’t). …