International team introduces the world's first AI vehicle & property loss mitigation system

While innovation in the field of disaster restoration continues to evolve at a steady pace, the soaring frequency, intensity and severity of climate-related disasters seriously threaten to outpace the rate of innovation rollouts.

For example, the amount of damage caused by riverine floods in towns and cities is expected to increase by 240 % from $157 billion to $535 billion by 2050 according to the World Resources Institute. MarshMcLennan reports that flooding has caused over $1 trillion in losses globally since 1980.

The current economic damages from floods are at a frighteningly high level and will continue to grow at a much greater rate in the future as a result of climate change and social-economic development.

Some of the costliest weather and climate disasters are attributed to tropical cyclones. Since 1980, the U.S. has sustained at least 332 weather and climate disasters, and during these events, overall damages and costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. The total cost of these 332 events exceeds $2.2 trillion.

The impact of climate change on disasters

Clearly, climate change is playing a role in increasing some types of extreme weather that lead to billion-dollar disasters. Because of this impact, innovation needs to address the demands for these challenges today and in the future.

At COP 26, The United Nations World Climate Summit, more than 30 countries, dozens of states and cities, and several automotive companies agreed to work to guarantee that new cars and vans sold are at zero emissions by 2035 in leading markets and by 2040 globally.

Current estimates put the number of vehicles on the world’s roads at around 1.4 billion. The use of electric vehicles is growing at 40% year-over-year (YoY). Some sources have found that there could be 230 million electric vehicles worldwide by 2030 and a report from the Edison Electric Institute concludes that there could be 26.4 million vehicles on U.S. roads by then.

Auto insurers face what could possibly be one of their biggest commodity peril changes in decades because of these green transitions for electric and autonomous vehicles. This could place an even greater burden on insurers and insurance repair companies to prevent the disposal of damaged items.

Hence, the introduction of the world’s first AI vehicle and property loss mitigation system is described as the fourth industrial revolution system (4IR) for the disaster restoration industry.

The technology combines laboratory techniques with machine learning, creating scientifically engineered modules that use algorithms and allow for predictive analyses as well as autonomous actions, countermeasures if you will, which identify disturbances within the remedial actions being executed.

The systems can be used on-site on vehicles following floods and can be rapidly deployed on a mass scale. For example, an insurance company faced with over 200 vehicles damaged by floodwaters can instruct vendors to carry out loss mitigation efforts on site. These temporary drying rooms can mitigate further damage and improve salvage opportunities for carriers because they expedite the drying process and can be easily monitored for maximum effectiveness.

Contents and pack-out companies as well as on-site loss mitigation teams can also benefit from the efficiencies derived from the use of these systems for contents restoration, ultimately saving insurers money, and helping the environment, while meeting ESG requirements.

While this new arm of the disaster restoration industry is still in its infancy, no one can dispute that getting the cars and contents into an environment that helps to minimize the loss has to be a good first step. A delay will result in vehicles becoming more expensive or economically unfeasible to restore.

As insurers expand their efforts to use less energy and reduce their carbon footprint to better comply with ESG requirements, expanding the toolbox of available technology takes on even greater significance.

Mohammed Iftkhar is a scientist, with 40 years of global participation at the senior level on catastrophic commercial losses. He has helped to develop scientific methods in the field of electronics loss recovery. Over the last 14 years, his cutting-edge research has focused on material degradation. He is a project partner at the Centre for Advanced Materials for Renewable Energy Generation (CAMREG) with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Contact him at Iftkhar@sky.com.

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