Slice Labs, an insurtech offering short-duration coverage for users of Airbnb and similar homesharing services, is planning to branch out into another aspect of the sharing economy.
The company is piloting an app that will support a new product for ridesharing drivers who work for services like Uber and Lyft. The pilot is meant to help inform the user experience so that it’s optimized when the insurance product is approved, according to Slice co-founder Tim Attia.
“The product is designed, the actuarial work is done and we’re going through regulatory approval,” Attia says.
Slice’s goal is to provide an accessible commercial insurance policy that can cover all of the time periods associated with ridesharing:
- Time when the app is on
- Time when a ride has been accepted
- Time when there are customers in the car
Attia says that most coverages specifically exclude the latter two periods, leaving drivers dependent on the coverage provided by Uber, which may be lacking. But the Slice app will apply coverage as long as it’s turned on – even if the Uber or Lyft app itself isn’t on.
“It’s app-on to app-off, which is even more real-time than homesharing,” Attia explains.
