Economy

American International Group Inc. and other insurers avoided steep losses from a spate of extreme weather this year thanks in part to the reinsurance industry. But increased reliance on those policies probably means price hikes are coming.

The acquisition is a win for Lemonade’s recently launched car insurance product. Metromile has a decade of driving data based on its usage-based model and it operates licenses in 49 states, all of which will be merged into a single company, if the deal goes through.

Amazon says it isn’t legally culpable because the driver worked for Harper Logistics LLC, one of thousands of small businesses launched in recent years specifically to deliver Amazon packages. By focusing on the key role played by the algorithms, Rana’s attorney, Scott Harrison, is looking to prove that the company controls the operation, managing everything from how many packages drivers must deliver to whether they should be kept on or fired.

The to-do list for the electric-vehicle maker will be funded in part by its IPO -- the sixth-largest in U.S. history. Rivian shares soared 22% Thursday in their second day of trading, creating a stock-market value of more than $100 billion. Two months after delivering its first pickups, largely to employees, Rivian now has a market valuation exceeding that of General Motors Co.

The Japanese automaker premiered its Solterra, built on the new “e-Subaru Global platform,” at a press conference in Tokyo on Thursday. The platform, developed in conjunction with Toyota, is dedicated to battery-electric cars. The model will be sold in the U.S., Canada, Europe, China and Japan by the middle of next year, along with Toyota’s bZ4X.

Before the year is over, Elon Musk wants to start production at Tesla’s new electric-vehicle factory outside Berlin. While he’s cautioned that ramping up Model Y output at the facility in the small town of Gruenheide will be challenging, the development is the talk of the German auto industry nonetheless.

Addition Capital, Coatue Management and serial entrepreneur Elad Gil led the funding round in the Mountain View, California-based company, now worth $3.6 billion -- nearly triple the valuation from another round last year.

Arity, a mobility data and analytics company founded by Allstate in 2016, has made its nearly 100 million driving risk scores exclusively available on Transparent.ly, a platform for auto insurance marketers to leverage leads and target shoppers.

The move suggests Apple is plowing ahead with attempts to develop self-driving technology, a high-stakes race with automakers such as Tesla. Moore is joining a division known for its secrecy -- Apple has never publicly laid out its car plans -- and frequent turnover. The head of Apple’s car project, codenamed Titan, departed the company earlier this year to lead technology efforts at Ford Motor Co.

In other news: AgentSync acquires Finvera; Cart.com teams up with Extend; SkyWatch launches usage-based insurance with Global Aerospace.

Lynk in June started deliveries to seven European countries including Germany, Sweden and Spain and so far has 29,000 customers -- more than three times this year’s target, Chief Executive Officer Alain Visser said in an interview. About 95% of them are choosing to subscribe rather than buy a vehicle.

About 20 nations have signed on to a deal to stop funding foreign fossil fuel projects -- with a last-minute entry by Italy. But the impact of the accord is undermined by the absence of key countries like China.

The company expects to pay the fine in installments, with a final deal subject to further negotiations with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said Thursday as it reported third-quarter financial results. The agency has been examining claims by a short-seller that Nikola deceived investors about its business prospects.

Success demands an innovation-driven formula with four main components: speed, accuracy, scale and customer experience. To do this and change the economic equation, here are five efficiency strategies recommended by Verisk.

AXA SA, France’s biggest insurer, is broadening the list of fossil-fuel activities that it will refrain from investing in, as pressure grows on financial companies to step back from funding industries that damage the climate.

China Life Insurance Co. posted a drop in third-quarter profit as a slowing economy weighed on the nation’s largest life insurer.

In other news: Zurich releases cyber risk survey results; Hertz and Uber to add 50,000 Teslas to network; Amica selects Shift Technology.

Taken together, the deals represent a trifecta of aggressive and innovative initiatives with the potential to upend the car-rental business and hasten the transition to greener transportation. The car order on Monday, the largest-ever for EVs at $4.2 billion, was such as watershed moment that it propelled Tesla Inc.’s valuation past $1 trillion.

Keynova Group, a financial services intelligence firm specializing in benchmark insights, released its 2021 Small Commercial Insurance Scorecard report, which evaluates the small commercial insurance digital capabilities of the 10 largest U.S. carriers.

Tesla jumped as much as 6.7% to a record high of $970.84 in New York, before paring gains to 4.4%, with the company’s market valuation around $955 billion.