O2 has launched car insurance that includes a black box system.

O2 is now the first mobile operator in the UK to offer a car insurance service. It is called O2 Drive and applies to new and existing O2 customers. Features include discounted car servicing and maintenance, tips on how to become a safer driver, an O2 Drive mobile app, and an optional telematics option called O2 Drive – Box on Board, which is essentially a small black box that sits next to the car battery.

O2 Drive is positioning this add-on as a way to help young car drivers get behind the wheel -- without driving up your insurance premiums. The black box is able to monitor the driver’s behaviour, and in return, you may get a discount. Here is how O2 described it:

"O2 Drive’s additional Box on Board product also gives customers the potential to secure an even greater discount up front with a small telematics device alongside their car battery – great for helping young drivers (17-24) get on the road. The device gives customers access to their driving scores via the O2 Drive app, along with tips that could encourage safer driving and keep or improve their no claims discount.

The mobile operator said it will also give all O2 Drive customers exclusive perks throughout the year, such as restaurant vouchers and car accessories. You can get access to O2 Priority exclusive discounts and rewards through the O2 Drive iPhone and Android app, which also gives you access to any needed information (like emergency breakdown services, policy details, and post-accident advice, etc).

O2 is able to provide the O2 Drive service thanks to a partnership with Junction, a division of Peterborough-based insurance services provider BGL Group. In a statement, David Plumb, digital director at O2, said insuring and servicing cars has remained unchanged despite the rapid evolution of technology, so O2 is "on a mission to make customers’ lives easier through mobile," which is why it created O2 Drive.

He added: “Based on the excellent feedback we’ve had so far for O2 Drive, the Box on Board proposition was created to further simplify the challenges of owning and driving a car safely. It unites our award-winning customer experience with our expertise in mobile to create a more personalised service – insuring people for who they are and rewarding them as they drive.”

O2, which has 10 million 4G customers, is owned by Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica. Pricing and availability details are not yet available for the mobile operator's new car insurance and Box on Board system.