Swiss Re and the BMW Group will jointly develop a new car insurance rating concept called ADAS risk score to help insurers better price their motor insurance products for vehicles equipped with advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS).
Image: Swiss Re, BMW to develop new car insurance rating called ADAS risk score. Photo: courtesy of Swiss Re.
The new car insurance rating concept will take integration of safety-relevant driver assistance systems into account, said the BMW Group.
The ADAS risk score is set to be launched in 2019 and will be a vehicle-specific insurance rating.
For this, BMW and Swiss Re will develop an algorithm that can represent the complex effects of ADAS on the safety of BMW vehicles as a score. Based on the score, calculation of an individual vehicle-specific insurance premium can be done, said the partners.
BMW Group financial services head Thomas Wittig said: “At the BMW Group, we are always focused on the customer. For this reason, we have developed a solution, together with Swiss Re, that will enable primary insurers to calculate premiums based on an individual assessment of a vehicle’s technical features.
“Our customers will benefit twice: from the added safety and convenience of intelligent assistance systems and from a possible reduction in their insurance payments.”
Swiss Re said that its research showed that ADAS, which has been helping drivers in avoiding accidents, is not being taken into account by most insurers while pricing their motor insurance products.
Swiss Re strategy, products & technology head Sebastiaan Bongers said: “Insurers will have to adapt as the automotive sector is on a journey towards fully Autonomous Vehicles (AV).
“But we do not have to await the arrival of Autonomous Vehicles as ADAS equipped vehicles will already reduce accidents. The issue for insurers is how they get to know what ADAS features are installed, how much safer these systems are, and to what extent drivers use these systems.”
The reinsurance giant claimed that the scoring models of the ADAS risk score will ease insurers from the burdensome work of assessing all the safety features of individual car manufacturers on a continuous basis.
Swiss Re plans to make the ADAS risk score available on an online platform and expects the new car insurance rating concept to benefit the underwriting and portfolio management of insurers.