Ever wanted to know what your teenage driver is doing with the car right now? Technology that gives parents the answer is poised to make the jump into the mainstream if some big car insurers can resolve worries about privacy.

You might already be aware that a small number of auto insurance companies are starting to offer systems that can watch how a car is being driven, either by capturing and transmitting digital data about speed or location or capturing video of the driver. They are promoting these systems to customers as a way to keep tabs on a recently licensed teenage driver.

"The highest crash risk is when they first begin to drive without the parent in the vehicle," says Anne McCartt, senior vice president for research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "We do believe these devices have potential in helping teens to learn safe driving behaviors, and correct unsafe driving behavior faster than they would otherwise."

In-vehicle monitoring systems have been in use for some time among truck fleets and some company car fleets. The emergence of these virtual back-seat driver systems to keep watch over teens is relatively recent, but there are signs the concept is gaining momentum.

Last March, American Family Insurance of Madison, Wis., launched a three-state test of what it calls the "Teen Safe Driver Program." In a affiliation with DriveCam Inc., a supplier of in-vehicle video technology, American Family offered consumers a system that records video of a driver's behavior and captured other data about the car's behavior such as swerving or hard braking. In the case of say, a sudden, sharp braking plan, the system stores video from 20 seconds surrounding the event.

That video is then sent to an "analysis center," not operated by American Family. There, American Family says, analysts comment on what happened, and rate the incident by its level of risk. Parents and teens can log on to a web site (www.teensafedriver.com) to see and analyze the video.

Teen driver safety web site

Right now, American Family isn't offering discounts to customers who put cameras in their cars, according to Steve Witmer, a spokesman for American Family. The corporation is still assembly data to be certain that the actual claims knowledge justifies a price break. That's one issue for insurers. An equally vital issue that's giving insurers pause is privacy.