Intact, Voyage Announce Partnership and Investment

“From our first meeting with Intact, our teams were in total lockstep. We were excited about their depth of expertise in data modeling and Machine Learning, and our groups immediately began to brainstorm an interesting concept: real-time insurance premiums.” – Via Voyage’s blog .

Canadian insurer Intact Financial is partnering with and investing in Voyage, a California-based self-driving car startup. Voyage runs self-driving cars in The Villages in Florida, one of the largest retirement communities in the U.S. The autonomous taxis are equipped with Lidar sensors that help the cars navigate the roads safely. The taxis drive around the privately-owned roads, picking up residents on demand. Voyage has a similar project in San Jose and it plans to expand its fleet over the next few years.

As part of the partnership, each of Voyage’s driverless cars will send information it collects to Intact for interpretation. The insurer will assess the data and create a risk profile in real-time, taking into account environmental factors. This will allow Intact to offer adjustable insurance premiums – automatically lowering when driving in an empty parking lot, and readjusting on a busy street with pedestrians.

“We are excited to be part of Voyage’s journey in developing autonomous vehicle fleets that will reshape the driving experience and the future of transportation. As a leading property and casualty insurer, we’ll support Voyage’s growth by leveraging our core competencies in data and product design, offering best-in-class insurance solutions that will protect consumers and make their lives easier and simpler.” – Senior Vice President of Intact Ventures, Karim Hirji.

Through its venture arm, Intact is investing $3m in Voyage, bringing the startup’s total funding to date to $23m.