Page 26 - Insurance Times April 2020

technology rewards the careful and safe drivers, it works as 5. Digital Ridesharing Platforms
a motivation for the rash drivers to work toward improving Ridesharing which has resulted in fewer people owning cars
their driving pattern. Hence it is very helpful for the safe is transforming the whole landscape for the insurance
drivers to buy car insurance at a low premium rate and also industry, eroding premium income and (in some cases) size
it motivates rash drivers to imbibe safe driving practices. of the market.
Consumers are embracing technology all aspects of their
lives, including their vehicles and driving style. They are Businesses such as Uber and OLA Cabs could have a big and
increasingly willing to share information with their insurers lasting impact on the insurance industry because of the
in order to receive the best services. Some insurers have emerging requirements for ride-sharing insurance. At the
meticulously planned the insured driver's customer journey moment, not too many freelance drivers have ride-share
leveraging on the telematics data (see Figure 2). insurance. The findings of a recently conducted study show
that only about 20% of them are insured.
Telematics is an advanced technology wherein live data of
the driver is acquired with the help of Telematics, Radio Vehicles of rideshare drivers are used both for personal and
Frequency (RF) technology, and GPS to determine the commercial driving.That makes insuring them in a
judicious cost of insurance. After monitoring multiple somewhat of a grey area. This is because personal insurance
parameters such as the distance that the car has covered, offers no protection for the driver if he uses his vehicle for
the time and period of driving, the road taken while driving, business, and a commercial insurance plan is only for
hard braking and cornering, airbag deployment, rapid vehicles used strictly for business.
acceleration etc, the insurance companies determine the 6. Rise of the Autonomous/Semi-Autono-
premium rate for every single driver. Since it is based on
accurate data, it is very beneficial for the insured driver as mous Vehicles
well as the insurer. The advent of Semi-autonomous cars in the present and
autonomous cars in the near future, issignificantly disrupting
When a car is damaged in a collision with other vehicle or the Motor Insurance segment, eroding premium amount
object the telematics box of a car immediately notifies the and the size of the market.Most of the car manufacturers
insurer of the event. The black box records the date, time, have started incorporating self-driving systems in their
and location of the occurrence, and relays it to the insurance vehicles. In case of an accident in which the human driver
company. The insurer treats the information received from was not involved, the fault seems to fall onto the
the telematics device as its FNOL. manufacturer.

26 The Insurance Times, April 2020