Progressive has come into the public eye recently with the introduction of its odd yet hilarious spokeswoman Flo, but Progressive is planning on grabbing more of the driving public's attention with its snapshot program.

Although Progressive, along with other big auto insurance companies like Allstate and State Farm, has offered snapshot-like programs previously known as "pay-as-you-go" for several years now, the company is planning on gaining traction in the car insurance industry with a serious marketing push for snapshot as well as the technological innovations behind the program.

The way snapshot works is by cutting you a deal for your good driving habits through a device that plugs into the onboard diagnostic port, (OBD-II) found in most cars built after 1996, which tracks how and when you are driving. The latest telematics and mobile technology aggregate and render real-time data analysis about your driving—things like how many miles and how many sudden stops. Drivers who are less aggressive and travel fewer miles can get up to a 30 percent discount in 30 days.

“Snapshot is about much more than just really cool and fun-to-use technology. It’s a whole new way to think about car insurance. We believe snapshot is a game changer, representing the future of auto insurance as our mobile and interconnected world gives us the opportunity to offer immediate and substantial savings to our customers,”

said Progressive President and CEO Glenn Renwick in a press release.

However, the snapshot program is not without its critics. Although the device doesn't use any kind of GPS, nor does it monitor your speed, privacy advocates claim that the device is a slippery slope and may very well become intrusive into driver's personal lives.

"You start out with something that may appear to be benign, but when you have the capability to do even more comprehensive tracking, there is a tendency to do that type of tracking over time," Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego, said to Ad Age.

Either way you slice it, opting for usage-based insurance and personalized rates on individual's actual driving habits may very well be the wave of the future.

“This will signal a game changer for this industry in an industry that has not been seen as a game-changing industry. We've been in business for close to 75 years, and for the industry, this is our iPod; this is our big launch," added Progressive CMO Jeff Charney in a press release.

—AJ Register