Revolutionizing Disaster Response: How New Technology is Transforming Insurance Adjustments
The aftermath of back-to-back hurricanes Helene and Milton has left a trail of devastation across several southern states, putting an enormous task on the shoulders of insurance adjusters. For decades, these adjusters have relied on traditional methods to assess property damage after natural disasters. However, new technology is changing the game.
Drones, AI, and Weather Balloons: A New Era in Disaster Response
Near Space Labs, a Brooklyn-based startup, has developed “Swifts,” stratospheric, AI-enabled robotic cameras that fly on weather balloons. These innovative tools are designed to assess property risk and will soon be deployed to evaluate damage from climate-related disasters.
“We’re able to get access to information right after the catastrophe and assess the damage and pay out claims within days instead of weeks and months,” said Rema Matevosyan, CEO of Near Space Labs.
A Faster, Better, and Cheaper Solution
The giant weather balloons fly twice as high as airplanes cruise, capturing high-resolution imagery over thousands of square miles. According to Matevosyan, “Our balloons capture what 800,000 drones would with one flight.” This means that insurance companies can assess damage and pay out claims faster, better, and cheaper.
Not Just for Disaster Response
Insurance and reinsurance companies, like Swiss Re, are using Near Space to help them understand and price risk. The imagery of specifics, like roof characteristics, surrounding vegetation, and defensible space, are all fed into customer AI datasets. This aspect is particularly attractive to investors.
Investors See Potential
“If you are actually going to be able to use AI to do risk analysis, you need a cheap, abundant source of imagery, and we believe that at least over the next decade, Near Space is probably the cheapest way to do this,” said Shaun Abrahamson, Managing Partner at Third Sphere, an investor in Near Space Labs.
Scaling Up Operations
Near Space Labs has flown over 1,000 commercial missions to assess risk and is ramping up its operations for disaster response. Matevosyan said that by next year, the company will have scaled to a point where it can react to major climate disaster events immediately.
A Suitcase-Sized Solution
The entire Swift system fits in a suitcase and can be shipped to operators anywhere. “The way our operators launch our platforms is you flick a switch, you attach it to a helium balloon and let it go. Everything else happens autonomously,” Matevosyan explained.
As the insurance industry continues to evolve, new technologies like drones, AI, and weather balloons are transforming the way insurance adjusters respond to disasters. With Near Space Labs leading the charge, the future of disaster response looks faster, better, and cheaper.
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