Japanese insurer Tokio Marine says it will use an Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution to process vehicle damage across its insurance operations in Japan to accelerate the processing time of claims for policyholders.
The AI solution, created by technology company Tractable, uses computer vision to look at photos of car damage and interpret it as a human would in near-real-time. Tokio Marine will use the AI to understand the full range of repair decisions available to it, including recommended repair, paint, and blend operations, as well as the labour hours required.
Tractable says that using AI in this way can increase the speed of remotely reviewing claims from days to minutes, removing inefficiencies from the process, helping insurers and repairers to agree on repairs quicker and getting customers back on the road faster. The company says this is the first time that a major Japanese insurer has deployed an AI vehicle damage assessment solution into the claims process.
The two companies have had a relationship since 2018, working to improve appraisal operations that require complex visual assessments with a solution based on computer vision. After successful trials of the AI, Tokio Marine plans to use the AI at one of its claim service centres from April 2020, and will potentially deploy it across the country.
“In Japan, after an accident it can take two to three weeks to determine the amount that should be paid,” said Hidenori Kobayashi, Deputy General Manager at Tokio Marine. “By using Tractable’s world-leading AI to assess car damage, we expect to shorten that time considerably, cementing our position as a company proud to pioneer new technology that transforms the claims journey for our customers.”
“We are honoured to be selected as the AI partner by one of the world’s largest insurers,” said Alex Dalyac, co-founder and CEO at Tractable. “We see this as testament to the quality of our technology, the maturity of our solution and trust in our people. Computer vision is accelerating accident recovery; the technology is here, it’s on the ground and it’s making a difference.”
Tractable says its AI uses deep learning for computer vision and machine learning techniques. The AI is trained on millions of photos of car damage and human appraiser decisions and its algorithms learn from experience by analysing a large variety of different examples. Tractable says its technology is globally applicable to any vehicle.