AI, satellites to aid in assessing flood damage
TOKYO - Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co. has revealed plans to utilise a satellite to assess large-scale flood damage, with artificial intelligence (AI) analysing the images it sends to quickly identify policyholders’ eligibility for payments.
The insurance company is currently conducting demonstrations and aims to put the system into use in fiscal 2018.
Nonlife insurance companies already use drones to assess damage from earthquakes, but it is thought that globally, satellites and AI have rarely been used to survey flood damage.
Currently, insurance inspectors visit all policyholders in flood-hit areas. Policyholders sometimes wait more than a month for payments if a large number of homes are subject to assessment.
Tokio Marine expects to save a significant amount of time on assessments by using a satellite. The firm has been conducting demonstrations aimed at practical implementation since July 2017. The tests are being done in cooperation with U.S. startup Orbital Insight, which analyzes satellite images via AI, and other organizations.
The research team is using data from various disasters, including the heavy rains that hit the Kanto and Tohoku regions in 2015, to examine the accuracy of the AI in terms of it deeming policyholders who were actually paid as eligible for payment. The team is still compiling the final results of the study, but the AI is thought to have an accuracy rate of 90 percent.
Assessments in large areas hit by massive flooding require substantial amounts of time and manpower. Tokio Marine aims to use its satellite to quickly and smoothly pay insurance claims to policyholders affected by such disasters.