Spotlight On Technology: Future gadgets

Knight Rider's car KITT
KITT, or Knight Industries Two Thousand to give it its full name, became the car that many kids (including a few of today's underwriters) growing up in the 1980s wanted to own.

The heavily modified 1982 Pontiac Trans Am contains the Knight 2000 microprocessor allowing it to think and drive itself.

It also has a turbo boost, enabling it to employ short bursts of speed and jump over, or through, obstacles, and a molecular bonded shell, enabling it to drive through walls and repel bullets.

Although the strength of the bodywork helps to reduce damage caused by some of KITT's other features, it's a proposition that makes insurers nervous.

"It's a little too modified for us to cover," says Will Williams, product development manager at Admiral. "Unsurprisingly we don't currently have modification codes for ‘self-aware cybernetic logic modules' on our system."

Williams is also concerned about potential claims that could arise from covering KITT. "Imagine the pay outs we'd be looking at every time KITT turbo boosted through a wall to save Michael Knight," he says.

However, Andy Goldby, director of motor pricing and underwriting at Direct Line Group, says there are plenty of features that wouldn't cause any alarm.

"It's packed with voice activation systems and head-up devices. These increase the cost of the vehicle but, as it's also protected from being stolen, they wouldn't make a huge amount of difference from an insurance perspective," he explains.

Simon Warsop, director of pricing at Aviva, is also open to covering KITT. "KITT is designed to keep the occupants safe, which makes it a good insurance risk. What isn't a good risk, though, is the driver. I wouldn't want to cover Michael Knight. He's a bad risk."

Back to the Future's DeLorean time machine car
This souped-up DeLorean DMC-12 features a range of modifications, including the Mr Fusion generator, which turns rubbish into fuel, the flux capacitor and the ultimate boy-racer toy: the ability to time travel.

However, time travel makes Russell Byrne, product, pricing and proposition director at Legal & General, particularly uncomfortable.

"It could get very messy from an insurance perspective," he says. "What would happen if the car travelled in time and was involved in an accident? You could have a situation where a claim arises before the policy is incepted."

Even before the car drives away from the present, Warsop feels nervous about insuring it. "It has to get up to 88mph before it can travel through time. We couldn't be seen to encouraging our policyholders to break the law," he explains.

The fuel used by the Back to the Future car is also troublesome from an insurance perspective. "I can't see us covering a nuclear reactor fitted on a car. There's too much risk of an accident and, if it did happen, the claims costs would be huge," says Goldby.

Williams is also concerned about fuel. "We don't cover losses due to ionising radiation or nuclear fuel," he explains. "If, however, it has been equipped with a Mr Fusion we'd probably be more relaxed - until it started flying."

K-9 pets
First appearing in Doctor Who in 1977, K-9 remained a loyal dog-like companion as a result of his many talents. These included computer intelligence and encyclopaedic knowledge, as well as a handy laser weapon hidden in his (not very wet) nose.

While these features might make K-9 the dog of choice down the park, in the main, insurers aren't expecting to adjust their underwriting to include this type of futuristic pet.

"I can't see robotic pets becoming the must-have pet of the future, apart from perhaps in Asia, where space is at a premium," says Geoff White, senior market underwriter at Zurich Insurance.

"People want the same sort of pets they already have, so I don't see insurers having to make any significant changes to pet insurance."

Although cover may keep its fluffy side, Byrne says that insurers are, in fact, already covering robotic pets.

"Anyone owning one of these will have them automatically insured against specific perils on their household policy, exactly like their other contents," he explains.

And some insurers have taken their K-9 cover requirements a step further. Warsop is happy to see robotic pets included on household policies, but he'd like to see further cover options added. "We might look to include breakdown," he says.

Personal spacecraft
Man's fascination with flight means that personal spacecraft appear in all manner of sci-fi films and programmes. But whether it's Doctor Who's Tardis, the emergency escape vehicle in Alien 3 or Zaphod Beeblebrox's Heart of Gold spaceship in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, it's a vehicle you won't find on the comparison websites just yet.

But Goldby thinks it could be. "We're probably some way off having personal space shuttles, but flying cars are a possibility and perfectly feasible to insure. Aeroplanes can be insured so there's no reason why flying cars can't be, especially if they're full of computers helping to control them," he says.

There are potential catches, though. Goldby's not keen on the prospect of flying cars in heavily populated areas, where there could be issues about lane discipline, and he also flinches at the potential size of a claim if a flying car fell out of the sky.

Star Trek's transporter
By using dematerialisation to convert a person into an energy pattern, several generations of Star Trek crew were beamed quickly and painlessly down to planets throughout the universe. But seeing people beamed up and down makes Byrne uneasy.

"If someone cracked the technology behind this, who would insure it?" he asks. "Imagine the claims you'd get for injury, whether from people being beamed down into hostile environments or from those hit by people being transported. I'm afraid this could be one of these cases where insurance stifles technology."

On top of this, any self-respecting Trekkie disguised as an underwriter would be aware of one of the main perils of the transporter: no matter which planet the crew members were beamed down to, trouble was never far away.

Making the transporter off-limits due to lack of insurance would guarantee James T Kirk, Mr Spock and Scotty a much easier time, as well as cheaper life assurance premiums.

Back to the Future talking house
Having a house that took care of itself and its occupants seemed incredible when it was first shown on screen back in the 1980s, but White says we're already close to this technology.

"We're seeing interactive panels that control everything from the heating and lighting to the television and music. These are common with some new-build properties and I expect them to become standard," he explains.

Smartphones are also getting in on the act with more and more interactive features. For example, Apple's Siri uses artificial intelligence to respond to questions.

This form of technology could easily be incorporated into houses, taking the talking house beyond the dreams of the creators of Back to the Future.

And, perhaps because the technology is almost here, insurers feel a lot more comfortable about it than they do about flying cars and transporters.

"We could cover this type of device," says Ian Bostock, personal lines underwriting and governance director at RSA. "The cost of the technology might add to the sum assured, but it shouldn't cause any other issues."

White also feels confident underwriting this new technology, adding that, as its value increases, insurers may look to control risk by insisting on alarms or additional security systems.