Norwich Union has taken the first steps towards a national roll-out of its ‘pay as you drive’ (PAYD) scheme.

NU has signed a five year contract with Trafficmaster to fit advanced ‘black-box’ units in its customer’s cars. It hopes to fit 10,000 ‘black-boxes’ before next summer.

NU piloted the scheme with 5,000 volunteers in August 2004 with the aim of having it completely nationwide by next year.

The black box, which is already being used for both Trafficmaster’s navigation unit Smartnav and tracking device RAC Trackstar, identifies the location of the vehicle to allow the delivery of PAYD insurance.

NU customers will be offered variable insurance rates according to driving data collected from the black boxes, together with a raft of optional in-vehicle services. These will include safety camera warnings, Smartnav navigation, emergency and breakdown calls and stolen vehicle tracking from RAC Trackstar.