Swiss Re and Chinese tech giant Baidu partner to advance the ecosystem of autonomous driving with risk expertise and insurance innovation

Beijing, November 2021 — Swiss Re has entered into a partnership with Chinese tech giant Baidu to provide risk management expertise and innovative insurance products for Baidu's autonomous driving business.

The partnership between Swiss Re and Baidu aims to further develop the autonomous driving industry and create a new industry paradigm. It allows reinsurers such as Swiss Re to tailor autonomous driving insurance products to meet the needs of technology companies. This partnership will advance risk management research and insurance protection for autonomous vehicles, representing an important step forward in building a comprehensive ecosystem of mobility services.

Russell Higginbotham, CEO Reinsurance Asia & Regional President Asia, said: “Our partnership with Baidu is a milestone in Swiss Re’s efforts to access new risk pools and close the protection gap through Swiss Re’s risk management expertise and innovation capabilities. By combining our respective risk knowledge and insights, we hope to jointly explore and develop innovative products and solutions, catalyze the transformation of the autonomous driving value chain, and further advance the mobility ecosystem.“

The first focus of this partnership was the launch of autonomous valet parking insurance, the industry’s first-ever insurance solution for Apollo Valet Parking (AVP) – an automated valet parking product designed by Baidu Apollo. Future collaboration between Swiss Re and Baidu will cover risk management research and insurance innovation for autonomous driving computing platforms, intelligent cockpits, robotaxi (driverless taxis) and other automated driving products.

Autonomous driving poses new challenges to the insurance industry, including rapid technological upgrades, increasingly diversified risks, and limitation of data availability. This partnership will develop insurance solutions covering the entire value chain of autonomous driving, including the selection of risk factors, product pricing, claims, and underwriting data standards. The solutions will be customized based on Baidu’s advanced technology and the data insights brought by Swiss Re and Baidu.

Andrea Keller, Head of Automotive & Mobility Solutions at Swiss Re, said: “Together with our partner Baidu, we analyze how automated cars perceive their surroundings and how they process that information and respond to it. Our goal is to understand how such vehicles behave differently than human-driven ones and quantify these differences. Ultimately, we aim to bring motor insurance products to the next level of innovation.“

As a leading global reinsurer, Swiss Re has a long history of making forward-looking investments in risk expertise of autonomous driving. Swiss Re has worked closely with globally leading technology companies, OEMs, and testing centers to obtain a deeper understanding of vehicle behavior and performance and to build customized insurance products and solutions. Swiss Re strives to provide comprehensive support and services to the mobility ecosystem — from product design, pricing, and underwriting to portfolio management and claims.

Swiss Re

The Swiss Re Group is a leading global provider of reinsurance, insurance, and other forms of insurance-based risk transfer, working to make the world more resilient. It anticipates and manages risk – from natural catastrophes to climate change, from aging populations to cybercrime. Swiss Re Group aims to enable society to thrive and progress, creating new opportunities and solutions for its clients. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, and founded in 1863, Swiss Re Group operates through a network of around 80 offices globally.