Liberty Mutual has invested in autonomous vehicle technology specialist Edge Case Research in a bid to better understand and underwrite self-driving cars.
The American insurer made the investment through its venture capital arm Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures during a seed funding round.
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Liberty said that it has already partnered with Edge Case Research on the testing of Hologram product, which evaluates the software and hardware used by driverless vehicles to observe their environment.
The outcome of the trial will enable Liberty to develop new and enhanced risk management options for firms providing autonomous vehicle solutions. It will also give enhanced understanding of risk selection and pricing for these firms.
Liberty Mutual global risk solutions senior vice president Brendan Smyth said: “Technology is creating vast new business opportunities centered on autonomy – from autonomous vehicles to manufacturing.
“However, it also brings significant new risks that must be carefully managed and mitigated if these companies are to thrive and grow.
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By GlobalData“Our partnership with Edge Case Research will let us better meet the complex risk management needs of such companies by understanding how to successfully identify, mitigate and manage their risks.”
Both Liberty and Edge Case Research will take part on the Underwriters Laboratories Standards Technical Panel (STP), which focuses on developing the industry standard for evaluating the safety of autonomous products (UL standard 4600).
As of 31 December 2018, Liberty Mutual had $41.6bn in annual consolidated revenue. It had a workforce of almost 50,000 employees with operations in 30 countries.
