Future Proof

This article appeared at Insurance Thought Leadership , 1 Nov 2017 As 21st-century consumers, we are fully aware of the trends which shape and change the way we interact with the world. Although there are stark differences in the way, say, a Millennial interacts with the world from that of a Baby Boomer, the themes are the same. Digitalization, business model disruption, mobile technology, and process automation are some of the trends we have all become conditioned to. Advances in artificial intelligence, sensor technology, robotics, and genomics are some of the forces which are likely to shape our future environment. Perhaps due to regulatory hurdles, perhaps due to complexity in the sales and new business processing transaction, or perhaps due to the long-term nature of the policyholder-insurer relationship, the life insurance industry has remained somewhat insulated from these forces of change. Whereas other industries have been disrupted head-on by startups, much of the Insure...

With the news that Waymo , Google's former autonomous car project, is now allowing driverless cars to roam the streets of Chandler, AZ, without a safety driver on board, I am left to wonder what features will make people comfortable riding in the back seat of an autonomous vehicle? At this point, autonomous cars are still equipped with steering wheels, pedals, dashboard features, even a driver's seat, which all serve no purpose other than to keep costs down. After all, purchasing a car with human-centered design features, today, is more expensive than purchasing a car without. We can imagine a not-too-distant future, however, where cars are sold to fleet managers or even individuals that do not have driver-oriented design features. In that case, passengers can be seated anywhere in the vehicle, facing any direction. I'm reminded of the movie Total Recall (the original, uncompromised, Arnold Schwarzenegger version), which featured the "Johnny Cab," an autono...