Pricing place-based risk in real-time

London-based startup Humn's Rideshur service "provides variable insurance rates to fleets based on data about each driver's care and safety on the road", and the risk of crashes at different locations. The company's software models compute risks at a 300-meter grid resolution and adjust rates every 200 milliseconds.

While this capability allows for a more accurate pricing of risk it points towards a future where all manner of urban activities become regulated by markets with both predictable and unpredictable consequences on access to mobility, affordability, and exposure to risk. With few existing tools for scrutinizing the models used by private firms, significant opportunities for discriminatory practices will arise. The spread of automated vehicles will further accelerate this process—by increasing the volume and reducing the cost of data to power these models, and by removing humans from decision-making about when and where to provide service and at what cost.