How am I driving? Zurich is excited about the future of mobility

Picture this. You need to get somewhere in a hurry, and you order a ride via an app. A cool electric vehicle pulls up and you get in. It’s a smart car, sans driver. The car knows where you want to go and the best way to get there – you’re off to your destination. Or, maybe you’re expecting a package. A polite little autonomous van, which has in the meantime replaced the taxi’s cabin but rides on the same chassis, brings the parcel to a delivery point and lets you know it has arrived.

Welcome to the future of urban mobility, MetroSnap-style, as envisioned by Rinspeed, a Swiss developer of weird and wonderful concept vehicles that may change how we move people, goods and services tomorrow. Zurich is excited by opportunities offered by this type of new thinking around mobility. It is working with Rinspeed and other innovative companies, including original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), ride-hailing providers, car-sharing companies, vehicle subscription providers, and micro-mobility providers, to develop insurance solutions to enable better, more sustainable and innovative mobility.

For Zurich, a cooperation with Rinspeed in 2020 offered a great opportunity to learn more about how its solutions can be applied in urban centers worldwide. The future of mobility – and even society – will depend on just such innovative ideas and the solutions that insurers provide.

“The cooperation with Rinspeed helped Zurich explore how mobility is being re-invented and how this is allowing insurers to rethink their approach,” says Reto Marta, Head of Business Development Connected Motor & Mobility Platform at Zurich Insurance Group. “Rinspeed’s MetroSnap represents the cutting-edge vision of what it means to define the future of mobility. As such, it is one of a growing number of futuristic mobility concepts that aim to change the very definition of vehicles and transportation. These trends will also have a major impact on insurance.”

Rinspeed’s ‘Snap’ series represents a new breed of vehicles. Described by BBC’s popular motoring program, Top Gear, as “what happens when a taxi meets a set of Amazon delivery lockers,” the MetroSnap prototype premiered in 2020 at CES Las Vegas, a showcase for new consumer technology. Zurich developed an insurance simulation as part of the debut. This took some ingenuity on Zurich’s part.

The ‘MetroSnap’s’ pods can be quickly detached and reattached to the chassis as the vehicle is kitted out for different uses. MetroSnap’s detachable pods might be taxis, delivery vans, or even snack bars, mobile grocery stores, or shops selling services. In all cases, the cover must be automatic and, of course, digital and connected, based on real-time data. It’s what Reto Marta calls “a perfect example of a commercial ecosystem.” It could, for example, encompass dynamic pods all over a city, rented out by owners to small businesses.

The insurance approach demands a high degree of flexibility. For its MetroSnap simulation, Zurich developed ‘usage-based’ cover automatically adapted in real time, based on data collected by sensors. As an example, based on mileage, a fleet owner would pay premiums to protect against damage, vandalism, third-party liability and cyber risk. When transporting people, the policy would automatically include passenger accident cover.

Passengers could also customize their own cover in real time using a mobile phone app, and buy additional cover if they wished on demand. Knowing the passengers’ destination could let Zurich tailor the insurance offer. In the case of the MetroSnap simulation, Zurich used a journey to an airport, even asking the passengers if they needed travel insurance as part of its offer.

For fleet owners, the concept would allow them to insure the value of specific deliveries. If the pod were to be left at a pick-up and delivery spot, as Rinspeed envisions, the insurance cover would include theft and damage to goods, with premiums calculated according to time spent in a particular location.

Data security is also of paramount importance, especially when it involves autonomous vehicles. For the Swiss Digital Days 2020, a program of over 150 events held throughout Switzerland in November 2020 offering glimpses into how technology might shape the future, Zurich highlighted potential cyber risks related to the MetroSnap concept. These included risks associated with V2I (communication with infrastructure), V2V (communication with other vehicles), and V2X (communication with basically everything else). Data privacy is also of key concern. Zurich, through its data commitment, pledges to keep customers’ data safe, not to sell personal data, nor share it without being transparent, and to use data to protect customers.

Sustainability, such as that encouraged by electric vehicles, is also high on the list of priorities. Zurich was the first insurer to sign up to the UN’s Business Ambition for 1.5°C Pledge, aimed at limiting average global temperature increases. It has also been among the first insurers in Europe offering cover for electric vehicles, beginning in Ireland in 2011. And it is involved in a major fuel cell project for heavy trucks in Europe, along with other activities related to sustainable mobility.

Zurich has been insuring cars almost since their introduction, when horse-drawn carriages provided the first models for motor-vehicle liability rates. As we look to celebrate our 150th anniversary in 2022, we’re excited to talk about our achievements. And even more excited by what the future holds for mobility, including through our work with innovative companies like Rinspeed.

Learn more about Rinspeed, and the passion that motivates it below.