These flying devices can be used for the replacement of human inspectors for a better vantage point.
Inspectors regularly need to climb up ladders onto the rooftops of buildings to check the situation after a claim has been made following a storm, for example, but this job may soon be done by insurance drones now that the FAA has made a new exception to its regulations.
AIG has received the approval from the FAA to begin using drones to complete jobs that would be risky for humans.
This will mean that AIG insurance drones will be able to be used to check buildings for damage and to head inside structures that have been struck by various types of disaster. This is not the first decision of this nature that the FAA has made, as it has also made similar types of exemptions for the United Services Automobile Association, as well as for State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. According to a press release issued by AIG, the use of these UAVs will be able to make the inspection process much faster and safer.
The AIG insurance drones can be used for rooftops or questionable structures, to keep human inspectors safe.
The press release stated that “UAVs can help accelerate surveys of disaster areas with high-resolution images for faster claims handling, risk assessment, and payments. They can also quickly and safely reach areas that could be dangerous or inaccessible for manual inspection, and they provide richer information about properties, structures, and claim events.” It went on to explain that the exemption also makes it possible for AIG to put a new R&D program into place so that they can look into innovative new ways to use UAVs to provide better service to its policyholders.
According to the 3D Robotics drone making company’s director of client services, Andrew Maximow, the insurance company is among many in the industry that are now looking into this new technology for aerial imaging. He expressed that “I’ve never been as excited about the insurance industry as I am now.”
The company has stated that it has received a great deal of interest in terms of the insurance drones that it can provide, as well as for other industries, such as in supplementing BNSF railroad track inspectors with UAVs.