Insurance Taskmaster: Insuring driverless flying taxis in Milton Keynes (2042)

Insurance Post and Verisk tasked six industry rising stars to solve some of the biggest historic challenges faced by the market over the past two centuries.

However, for the fifth episode the twist is that the contestants are thrown forward to 2042 where a driverless flying taxi pilot is about to start in Milton Keynes. Run by Aeras A-2-Z, a US tech giant, it is similar to one launched in Seattle two years earlier.

Milton Keynes has been chosen as it is the ‘most connected’ Smart City in the UK with a billion censors. It was granted city status for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and now homes some 500 000 people.

So against this backdrop the teams will be bidding to win the insurance and risk management contract for the pilot.

The teams will each have an hour to come up with a pitch, with the one considered the most comprehensive being crowned the winner.

With this in mind:
• Whose smart ideas are going give Aeras A-2-Z the most bang for their bucks?
• Which team is going to fly; and who is getting a taxi to Loserville?
• Who is on track to navigate the roundabouts and claim the overall title of Insurance Taskmaster 2022 next week?

Watch the latest episode to find out.

Learning from the past and developing a greater appreciation for technologies and data that make managing insurance much easier have been key themes of Insurance Taskmaster. But what about the future?

While the thought of driverless flying taxis may be a venture into the absurd, insurers are constantly contending with new technologies and risks that could catch them off guard. Good examples of this include electric vehicles and telematics, which are making insurers rethink the way they assess motor risk.

At Verisk, we have developed a unique an exclusive electric vehicle dataset with over 175 unique technical attributes for existing models of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). In the telematics space, we work directly with manufacturers to convert connected-car data into usable information to support underwriting decisions in the usage-based insurance market.