U.S. Infrastructure Bill Offers Groundwork For Personalized Insurance

In its current form, the proposed infrastructure bill helps insurance companies reduce risk while potentially increasing prices as it evolves toward a more tailored approach.

The requirement to have technology that identifies drunk drivers, provides automatic emergency braking or protects infants from accidentally being left in a hot car will change how insurers identify and charge for risk.

There will also be a need for a system to track which cars have specific technologies and who manufactures them.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 38,680 people died in car accidents in the United States in 2020, up 7% from the 36,096 killed in 2019.

This was the largest increase since 2007, and was an interesting anomaly given that there was a 13.2% drop in the number of actual miles driven during the pandemic.
Rather than having the manufacturers establish the criteria, the infrastructure bill will require minimum performance standards for specific safety systems and automobiles.