Transportation technology

An insurtech that uses AI and machine learning analytics to streamline the underwriting process in commercial auto.

Uber and Lyft Inc. are on the hook to show progress toward achieving their goal of switching entirely to EVs in Europe and North America by 2030.

Munich Re partners with ERGO, in-tech and others to launch the Mobility Technology Center.

Cambridge Mobile Telematics research has shown that the right type of insurance telematics programs can help maintain and even improve safe driving behaviors.

The company announced the launch of its first offering in February, a telematics-based platform that is designed to modernize commercial fleet insurance by using vast amounts of driving data gathered from sensors on trucks.

Digital Insurance received responses via email from Dr. Caro Gabor, CEO of Movinx, a global insurtech platform and a joint venture between Swiss Re and Daimler Insurance Services. Dr. Gabor discusses Movinx, auto industry trends and embedded insurance.

The U.S. Department of Transportation proposed on Thursday that lane-keeping support, automatic emergency braking, blind spot detection and blind spot intervention be incorporated into its Five-Star Safety Ratings program for new cars.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened defect investigations in the past two weeks of cars made by Honda Motor Corp. and Tesla Inc. and equipped with automatic emergency braking systems.

Automatic emergency braking systems can detect and prevent pedestrian crashes, but lighting plays a role in the odds no matter the crash avoidance systems in place, according to a study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Millennials are the most eager to go electric, followed by Generation Z, who also expect to see autonomous vehicles in the next five years. However, 40% of respondents said they expect to never use an autonomous vehicle in their lives. The reason for the EV interest is mostly motivated by money.

The EQXX, presented at the CES show in Las Vegas, can drive more than 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) with a battery half the size of Mercedes-Benz’s EQS, its current flagship electric vehicle, the manufacturer said Monday. The sedan’s battery technology is set to be deployed in the company’s compact cars from 2024.

In other news: Liberty Mutual launches insurance agency; Neptune Flood releases carbon-neutral plan; New York Life announces CEO-elect.

Electric vehicles fare poorly in the latest reliability study from Consumer Reports, with Tesla Inc. and its battery-powered lineup finishing second to last for the second-straight year. Only Ford Motor Co.’s Lincoln division was worse, the organization said Thursday at the Automotive Press Association in Detroit.

UPS, which tested autonomous delivery vans with Waymo in the Phoenix area beginning last year, will expand that partnership to include big rigs, Waymo said in a statement. The courier first began testing autonomous technology on 18 wheelers with TuSimple in Arizona after taking an equity stake in the startup in 2019. The Waymo tests will be done for UPS’s North American Air Freight unit for delivery routes between Dallas and Houston.

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.

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.

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.

The partnership provides Lyft drivers with the opportunity to select an auto insurance policy that is built for rideshare drivers. Policyholders are also eligible to get money back with each ride using the Lyft platform.