Big data use to bolster auto insurance industry

ZhongAn Insurance Co Ltd, China's first internet insurance company, announced Wednesday its strategic move to use big data technology to promote the auto insurance industry's ecosystem.

Based on Data Cube, a big data platform which deploys artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, the company will share data storage, data-analysis results and data products with other insurance companies and related partners in the auto industry chain, bringing momentum to the development of data innovation in both the auto and insurance industries.

The development of internet auto insurance is about to usher in a golden period, mainly due to the continuous deepening of policies on commercial car fares and the gradual liberalization of premium rates.

According to Oliver Wyman, a leading global consulting firm, the auto insurance market in China is expected to grow from 683 billion yuan ($108 billion) to 1.2 trillion yuan between 2016 and 2021, and the auto insurance technology market will grow from 124 billion yuan to 412 billion yuan.

By integrating resources from the auto industry, internet and finance, ZhongAn's strategic transformation will be a new growth point for the company's revenue.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics and China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the number of vehicles in China will exceed 200 million in 2020 and the volume of the automotive customer service market will be nearly 5 trillion yuan.

In order to meet pressing demand from the auto insurance market and offer better services for customers in the internet age, ZhongAn Insurance is to form a "four-in-one" auto service ecosystem in 2018 based on the notions of new retailing, new financing, new ways of traveling and Internet of Vehicles.

"The layout of ZhongAn's automotive ecology is a further implementation of the OMO (Online-Merge-Offline) model," said Wang Yu, head of ZhongAn Automobile. "It is also our original intention to provide customers with the best car experiences."

Fan Hang contributed to this story