High-tech automation solutions = home smart home

Meet George Jetson

Imagine that as you pull up in your driveway, your house automatically welcomes you home by opening the garage, unlocking the door and disabling the alarm, turning on the lights and television and adjusting the thermostat. This type of home automation – once a figment of the vivid imagination of the writers of Hannah Barbera’s futuristic cartoon, The Jetsons – is slowly becoming reality. While this technology may seem a bit excessive to some, it can serve a practical purpose – and could eventually help reduce Florida home insurance rates.

You’ve got the whole house in your hands

A recent television ad features a husband and wife sitting outside of their cabin when their son and daughter-in-law pull up in their car. The son mentions that he and his wife stopped by the family home before heading to the cabin. While asking the kids if they left the house “in good shape,” the father accesses his smartphone, and with the touch of a button, remotely turns off the lights, water and television, locks the door and activates the alarm – things his son forgot to do before leaving the house.

Although home automation is still in its infancy, it still scratches the surface of space-age living. Technology gurus are already three steps ahead – developing telematics that can perceive and correct issues without the homeowner having to do a thing. Using the example in the ad, wireless telematics technology would have detected that the lights and television were on, water was running and the alarm was disabled, and made the appropriate fixes on its own – rendering the remote unnecessary.

More than a gizmo

Eventually, telematics could be used to detect and immediately alert homeowners about problems such as a water leak – instead of allowing a pipe burst or an unusually high water bill be the bearer of bad news – potentially save homeowners money and lessen the need to file claims. Insurance companies could use telematics to tailor rates for individual homeowners, potentially reducing insurance rates for homes equipped with such technology.

Auto insurance companies are already using telematics. Referred to as “usage-based insurance” and “pay as you drive insurance,” customers install a device to record and analyze their driving habits. Safe driving habits generally result in lower rates. Driverless car technology, which is equipped with accident avoidance features, is the next iteration of telematics for the automobile industry. Could the Jetsons’ flying cars already be on the drawing board?

Which Jetsons gadget would you like to have in your home?