Insurtechs Blue Zebra and Precision Autonomy have joined forces to provide commercial drone insurance through the broking channel, in response to growing demand as usage of the remotely piloted devices soars.

Under the partnership announced last week, Blue Zebra will provide its broking partners with access to Precision Autonomy’s quoting and binding platform for drone offerings.

The access is available on the Zebra Lounge portal, which is only available to brokers who have a business agreement with the underwriting agency.

“We are always on the lookout for ways to expand the options for our intermediaries available via our platform and this new partnership with Precision Autonomy is another exciting step for us and our broker partners in what is a quickly expanding market,” MD Colin Fagen said.

Precision Autonomy focuses on solutions for commercial drones through real-time risk pricing and has developed an algorithm-driven insurance platform for drones.

CEO and co-founder Mark Halverson says the business seeks to increase brokers’ understanding of drone insurance and how to arrange appropriate covers for clients.

“We know that better understanding and risk management will accelerate the adoption of drones across all industries, and [Blue Zebra’s] deep relationships in the broker community allow that to happen rapidly,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

Head of Underwriting Simon Hooper says the partnership with Blue Zebra will help the business drive distribution of commercial drone insurance products into the broader broker market in Australia.

He told insuranceNEWS.com.au Precision Autonomy’s drone underwriting business has grown by 89% and 119% in Australia and New Zealand respectively this year.

“With a stabilisation of regulations for drone operators, we would expect to see significantly more investment in drone operations over the next five years with the technology moving from an innovative solution to be more ingrained in day-to-day operations,” Mr Hooper said.

“The three primary industries [we are] seeing significant growth in are agriculture, construction and energy.

“Each one of these industries has a unique use case for drones.”

He says the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of drones, particularly for construction sites.

HDI Global Specialty is the capacity provider for Precision Autonomy’s drone products.