There’s a knock at your door. A perfectly (too perfect) timed drumbeat sounds through the house. It’s a drone carrying the groceries you ordered online just half an hour ago. Perfect timing, you think, as the kids hop out of their driverless school bus, flying taxis swiftly and quietly buzzing by. Sound a bit far-fetched? A bit like an episode of the Jetsons? Probably. What’s not so far-fetched, however, is the convergence of networks, hardware and software, creating a very real and tangible connected economy that increasingly involves autonomous technology.
There’s a knock at your door. A perfectly (too perfect) timed drumbeat sounds through the house. It’s a drone carrying the groceries you ordered online just half an hour ago. Perfect timing, you think, as the kids hop out of their driverless school bus, flying taxis swiftly and quietly buzzing by. Sound a bit far-fetched? A bit like an episode of the Jetsons? Probably. What’s not so far-fetched, however, is the convergence of networks, hardware and software, creating a very real and tangible connected economy.
Over the last 100 years, the human-race taken quantum technological leaps into the future, from the development of the automobile, to the computer, and the smartphone. Traditionally, the necessary boundaries placed around technology has been ad hoc, at best. Take the atomic bomb, for example. After its weaponization in 1945, it took a little boy and a fat man, and over 200,000 civilian lives, and 25 years before the Treaty of Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was put in place. Despite incredible feats of scientific and technological insight, humans have typically been inhumane when harnessing that power.
For the first time in history, technology is beginning to evolve away from human operation, and towards automation. Cars are beginning to drive themselves. Consulting firm Mckinsey & Co. are quoting commercial drone production to the tune of between $US31 billion and $US46 billion to US GDP by 2026 (not to mention, fast on the road to automation). The convergence of machine learning and technology is slowly beginning to have an impact on innumerable industries in unique ways. (see here, here and here).
The rub? Autonomous technology is immensely powerful, and provides amazingly tangible benefits for society. This power is not without substantial risks, and the removal of human intervention, the convergence of AI and machine learning, and mankind’s track record, to quote Spiderman, of ‘with great power, comes great responsibility’ is abysmal. (see, atomic bomb ^) When we introduce autonomy to technology, we lose the ability to ‘mind the store’, per say. For this reason, we think that it is hugely important to develop infrastructure around technology, before its integration, so that the power that it creates can be used for the betterment of society.
Precision Autonomy was founded on the premise of developing moral and ethical boundaries around autonomous technology. Our goal is to develop what we like to call ‘On-Purpose Infrastructure’: building infrastructure around technology, so that it can continue to operate for a purpose – that being, the betterment of man-kind. We use software and algorithms to create a dynamic, value-driven insurance experience for an increasingly automated world. We are focused on solutions for commercial drones today, with a vision across sensor-enabled, digital and autonomous technology in the future.
We can’t predict exactly what the future will look like. However, what we can do as a race, and what Precision Autonomy will continue to do, is create infrastructure around the future, so that technology can be safely adopted, and that we, as humans, can continue to be the benefactors of its development.
Want to learn more about our drone insurance? Head here.
Check out the rest of our blog, including musings on regulation, tips for insurance, and the future of risk management, over here.
