How Apollo Is Building the Insurance Layer for Autonomous Vehicles

You can build the safest autonomous vehicle in the world, but without insurance, it doesn't go on the road. In Episode 10 of Autonomy Insiders, host Daniel Abreu Marques sits down with Chris Moore, President of Apollo ibott (Lloyd's Syndicate 1971), to unpack why insurance is the unsung gatekeeper of AV deployment and why most insurers are still sitting on the sidelines while autonomy scales.

Chris explains why autonomous vehicles don't fit any traditional insurance silo. Auto policies are built around accidents, not cognitive decisions. Products liability rates risk by revenue, not mileage. Cyber liability wasn't designed for third-party bodily injury. He walks through how Apollo prices a risk with no decade-long loss history, why frequency is easy to model but severity is the real problem, and how US plaintiff lawyers and nuclear verdicts shape AV underwriting more than the technology itself.

The conversation also covers the new Uber AV Insurance Program (AVIP), launched with Apollo as risk taker and Marsh as broker, and how it covers Uber's entire AV partner ecosystem. Chris breaks down why the EU and UK regulatory structure makes Europe harder to insure than the US, how over-the-air software updates change underwriting assumptions, what the Swiss Re and Waymo study (88% fewer property damage claims, 92% fewer bodily injury claims) means for pricing, and why the AV insurance market will ultimately be smaller than today's auto insurance market

Timestamps:

00:00 - The intersection of autonomous vehicles and insurance — Why coverage is a prerequisite not a afterthought

02:25 - Neil Armstrong’s vision for insurance fostering innovation in mobility

03:13 - How sharing economy platforms revealed the limitations of traditional insurance silos

04:38 - Challenges faced by insurers when new tech models don’t fit existing policies

05:36 - Does AV need a new insurance framework or can existing models adapt?

06:06 - Why current auto policies fall short for autonomous vehicle risks

07:42 - Building tailored AV liability solutions that reflect unique risks

08:11 - Pricing AVs without decades of claims data — the approach of frequent client engagement

10:10 - Frequency vs Severity — How sensors and legal risks influence severity projections

11:27 - Legal challenges like nuclear verdicts and their impact on AV insurance risk

13:11 - The role of trust and regulation in scaling autonomous vehicle adoption

14:01 - Understanding Apollo Ibot’s competitive edge and why fewer insurers are active in AV

15:54 - Regional regulatory differences: US, UK, Europe, and their effect on underwriting

18:27 - The claim process in AV accidents — From sensors to settlement

21:01 - How Uber’s AVIP program simplifies and scales AV insurance coverage globally

24:25 - Who’s covered under the AVIP and how it manages complex AV ecosystems

25:28 - Expansion plans of AVIP across markets and the importance of a unified global approach

34:02 - Data-driven underwriting: The Swiss Re and Waymo study — Credibility and trust building

36:34 - Software updates and risk: How versioning impacts underwriting and reinsurance

38:53 - Can Chinese AV tech be insured in the US or Europe? Geopolitical factors at play

40:42 - Broader insurance coverage: other AV projects and different business models (Tesla, partnerships)

45:45 - Autonomous trucking: similarities, differences, and new risk profiles in freight

47:53 - Cyber risks and how AV insurance strategies include cyber liability

50:50 - Will the AV insurance market surpass traditional auto insurance? The expected size and shift

52:14 - The biggest change needed: Trust and proactive industry collaboration

54:24 - Closing thoughts: Insurance as both enabler and barrier for AV adoption