Insurance Edge believes that those insurers who fail to invest in driverless car technologies risk losing the chance to harvest vast swathes of data from the occupants of said driverless Jonny Cabs in the future. The real gold dust, the truly huge revenue, is the smartphone data, the browsing history, shopping habits, food outlets, companies emailed or texted, TV shows downloaded on the go, and all the GPS locations visited etc – not the annual insurance policy premium.
Everyone clear on the road ahead? Good, here’s the word from Liberty Mutual;
As part of its ongoing efforts to help brokers, businesses and consumers better manage risks from emerging autonomous vehicle technologies, Liberty Mutual has invested in Edge Case Research, a leading firm that helps companies go to market with autonomous vehicle technologies and services that are safe, secure and reliable.
Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures, the venture capital arm of Liberty Mutual – participated in recently announced seed financing of the company, which was formed by leading autonomy and software safety experts from Carnegie Mellon University. The seed round was led by AV pioneer, and Aurora Co-founder and CEO, Chris Urmson, and innovative simulation software provider ANSYS.
Liberty’s partnership with Edge Case Research is a strategic venture that promises mutual benefits for both companies and the customers they serve. One notable collaboration already underway is a pilot of Edge Case Research’s Hologram product – which tests the software and hardware used by autonomous vehicles to perceive their environment. This research will help Liberty develop new and enhanced risk management options for companies offering autonomous vehicle solutions, as well as better understand risk selection and pricing for these firms.
“Technology is creating vast new business opportunities centered on autonomy – from autonomous vehicles to manufacturing,” notes Brendan Smyth, Senior Vice President, Global Risk Solutions, Liberty Mutual. “However, it also brings significant new risks that must be carefully managed and mitigated if these companies are to thrive and grow. Our partnership with Edge Case Research will let us better meet the complex risk management needs of such companies by understanding how to successfully identify, mitigate and manage their risks.”
Liberty and Edge Case Research will also participate on the Underwriters Laboratories Standards Technical Panel (STP) developing the industry standard for evaluating the safety of autonomous products (UL standard 4600).
Liberty believes deeply in the long-term potential of emerging autonomous vehicle technology to improve safety, and is investing in developing expertise and products to support it – with a focus on safety at all stages of development. Edge Case Research’s cutting edge Hologram product enables autonomous vehicle companies to better evaluate the safety of their systems, enabling responsible deployment. Liberty is thrilled to be jointly driving towards a safer future with Edge Case Research.
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