Latest Tech Headlines
All the headlines from our Tech Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Insurers Looking to Add Jobs in Low Unemployment, High Tech Environment
Sep 13 2019 // About 62 percent of insurance companies polled said they intend to increase staff in the next 12 months, according to the latest U.S. Insurance Labor Outlook Study conducted by recruitment firm The Jacobson Group and...
On Second Thought, Insurtech Next Insurance Thinks Agents Have a Role After All
Sep 12 2019 // Next Insurance has begun formally marketing a portal designed to help independent agents quickly quote and sell its policies. Next said the system, dubbed “Next for Agents,” had been in beta testing since April...
Uber Refusing to Label Drivers as Employees Under California Law
Sep 12 2019 // Facing the most serious threat yet to its business model, Uber Technologies Inc. is dusting off a legal argument it has employed with mixed results: that it’s a technology platform, not a transportation company. Now,...
AXA XL Partners with Insurtech Neptune Flood to Expand Private Flood Insurance
Sep 12 2019 // AXA XL is partnering with digital private flood insurance program manager Neptune Flood in a strategic underwriting partnership that will more than double Neptune’s capacity across the country. According to CEO Jim...
Canadian Insurtech Apollo to Offer Educators Liability Coverage in California
Sep 12 2019 // Apollo Insurance Solutions, a Canadian insurance marketplace, has entered the American market with a liability insurance product tailored for educators in California. The product allows consultants, instructors, and...
Typhoon Faxai Makes Landfall in Tokyo Area, Killing 1, Disrupting Travel
Sep 10 2019 // A typhoon blew across the Tokyo metropolitan area Monday morning, killing one person and causing dozens of injuries, while disrupting rush-hour travel and knocking out power. Several railway and subway operators suspended...
Automated Driver Assist Cars Still a Work in Progress
Sep 9 2019 // To the human driver, it would have been an obvious obstacle: a police car and fire truck, emergency lights blazing, blocking the lane ahead. But to the Tesla Inc. Model S traveling down a Southern California freeway last...
Prudential to Pay $2.35 Billion for Insurtech Startup Assurance IQ
Sep 6 2019 // Prudential Financial Inc. is set to buy online insurance startup Assurance IQ Inc for $2.35 billion, the latest in a series of moves by traditional insurers to up investment in technology and data crunching by buying...
Former Google Engineer Charged in Uber Autonomous Theft Case
Aug 29 2019 // A former Google engineer was charged Tuesday with stealing self-driving car technology from the company shortly before he joined Uber’s efforts to catch up in the high-stakes race to build robotic vehicles. The...
Millennials Think They’re So Much Better at Multitasking Than Everyone Else. They Are.
Aug 29 2019 // Emails, instant messaging, app notifications, RSS feeds, and a plethora of social networks inundate almost every aspect of daily life from work to home or just keeping in touch socially. Some people average more than four...
Frederick Mutual Hires Stenbjorn as Vice President of Information Technology
Aug 29 2019 // Frederick Mutual, a Frederick, Md.-based insurance company, has hired Paul Stenbjorn as vice president of Information Technology. Stenbjorn has been a technology management professional for more than 20 years. He has held...
Insurtech Kin Insurance Raises $47M to Launch Florida Homeowners Carrier
Aug 29 2019 // Kin Insurance, an insurtech startup focused on home insurance in catastrophe-prone regions, said it has raised $47 million in new venture financing to fuel expansion and a revamped business model. August Capital led the...
Auto Safety Test Pits Traditional Car Mirrors v. Rear/Side Cameras
Aug 28 2019 // The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plans to test how drivers could use cameras to replace traditional rearview mirrors in automobiles, a technology already allowed in other countries, the agency said...
5 Insurtechs Working to Improve Agency Processes, Efficiency
Aug 26 2019 // Independent insurance agents can find sifting through the many insurtech products to pinpoint ones suited to their needs is a daunting assignment. But it’s an assignment they must tackle, according to agency...
Russia’s Yandex Accelerates Driverless Car Testing
Aug 19 2019 // Yandex, a Russian equivalent to Google, said it is considering expanding its fleet of self-driving cars to up to 1,000 within the next two years in order to speed up tests on the fledgling technology. Yandex hopes to start...
Tokio Marine Joins Singapore Insurtech Program
Aug 19 2019 // Japanese property/casualty insurer Tokio Marine Holdings announced a partnership with Plug and Play’s Insurtech program in Singapore. With this new partnership in Singapore, Tokio Marine will now have access to Plug...
Why Agencies Shouldn’t Be Afraid of Insurtech and Need to Adopt It – Now
Aug 19 2019 // There’s been a barrage of insurtech products hitting the market for several years now, creating confusion for some agency owners trying to decipher what is relevant to them, how to implement these products and...
In Review of Hail Claims Cases, Texas High Court Clarifies Bad Faith in Appraisal Process
Aug 19 2019 // An insurer’s payment of the appraisal value after disputing a claim does not establish that it was liable, nor does that payment prevent a policyholder from pursuing penalties under the Prompt Payment of Claims Act,...
Tropical Storm Krosa Slams Japan, Disrupting Transportation, Factories, Power
Aug 15 2019 // Severe tropical storm Krosa lashed western and southern Japan with torrential rain and wind, causing Japan Airlines Co. and All Nippon Airways to cancel hundreds of domestic and international flights, and some train lines...
How AI Advances ‘No-Touch’ Resolution of Workers Compensation Claims: Opinion
Aug 8 2019 // Many human hours are needed to sort, analyze and process workers compensation claims—the vast majority of which are low in value. The U.S. workers comp insurance market is forecast to earn revenues of $55 billion in...
