News & Blog

Risk Technology of the Week | Driverless Cars

“There’s going to be a phase before [full autonomy] where a bunch of technologies come into adoption and take over parts of the driving experience,” Beattie says. “Honda has some lane following technology, for example — if you couple that with adaptive cruise control, where you set the target speed but maintain a safe distance, you can do a lot of freeway driving without doing anything.”

The subject says it all – drivers are excited, risk managers are anxious. A recent Insurance Technology article identified four ways autonomous cars will force the insurance industry to change. First, warning systems are progressing more and more, to help drivers identify possible dangers and eventually to identify and prevent possible dangers independent of needing the driver to take action. How will each progression in autonomous technology be insured? Second, intelligence dashboards may provide advanced information that is very useful to driver safety, but is viewing and taking in all this information while driving a distraction and step in the wrong direction? Will cars operating on their own fix this? Third, insurers are already offering discounts to some Google self-driving car owners in the Bay Area – but how do these discounts offset the price of such expensive vehicles, if at all? How will insurance carriers have to adjust policies and pricing to cover semi-driverless and self-driving vehicles competitively? Lastly, until self-driving cars are the new normal, how will insurers adjust rates for telematics technologies with a life span? We’re excited to find out.

Click here to learn more about self-driving cars and their impact on risk management and insurance

Risk Technology of the Week | Magazine Wifi

Some lucky Forbes subscribers just received 15 days for free Wifi service. Where’s the router? Embedded in the magazine. Not only is this a brilliant marketing campaign by Microsoft to promote its Office 365 “Out of Office Experience,” but it’s a glimpse at the ever-expanding portability of technology. It’s a blessing and a curse for risk managers trying to reign in Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), remote workers, social media and the like.

Click here to learn more about Microsoft’s Magazine Wifi

Risk Technology of the Week | Data Delivering Pill for Firefighters

Firefighters in Australia are trialing a new pill that, when ingested, monitors body temperature and other vital signs affected by extreme heat and stress. Data from the pill is sent to a monitor on the chest which then transmits vital informaiton to a computer where supervisors can be notified if firefighters need to be removed from a risky situation. 

“The same device was used to measure Felix Baumgartner’s vital signs during his 23-mile skydive last fall. It’s not the only data-transmitting pill Earlier this year, the FDA approved the Feedback System, a pill containing a chip that can relay information about the medication you’ve taken through your phone’s Bluetooth.”

Such technology will be useful for more than just firefighters, and could be used for any workers in extreme conditions, involving heat, chemicals, air pressure, etc.  

Click here to learn more about this data-deliving pill 

Risk Technology of the Week | The Phone Booth Health Clinic

A very interesting article from CNN recently explained how China has declared its ambition to be at the forefront of the “Internet of Things” where the objects of every day life are fully integrated with each other and their owners for a seamless daily experience of data. By establishing state-owned enterprise zones, the government is pushing projects like the telephone booth sized “health capsule” villagers will be able to walk into in Sichuan province’s rural areas. 

“With the capsules and clinics, people do low-cost checkups and choose an online doctor for further diagnosis, then print prescription and purchase medicine from the capsule…”

The concept of the Internet of Things will continue to drive innovation around the world – but it will be interesting to see the products of the heavy investments China is implementing. It will inevitably affect the way we deliver and consume technology…and maybe health care, insurance, and more.

Click here to learn more about China’s race to invent the Internet of Things