The Property Drone Consortium (PDC), a collaboration that consists of insurance carriers, construction industry leaders and supporting enterprises announced its roster of charter members that includes: Allstate Corporation, American Family Insurance, Auto-Owners Insurance, EagleView Technologies, Inc., Erie Insurance and Pilot Catastrophe Services.
The consortium is pleased to include the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) as a technology adviser, the National Roofing Contractors Association as an honorary member and theRochester Institute of Technology as a technology member.
“The multi-faceted collaboration to enhance commercial use of unmanned aerial systems is exciting. The PDC expects to develop technology enabling safe operations and inspections that will benefit its members and members’ customers,” said Gary Sullivan, Chairman of the PDC.
Within the past year, the PDC has secured a number of FAA regulatory approvals including Section 333exemption grants, a 333 amendment and blanket Certificates of Waiver or Authorization to permit the use of a variety of UAS platforms for aerial data collection including the inspection of properties for the insurance and construction industries. The PDC is working closely with the IBHS to lead the research effort that focuses on the collection and processing of intelligent images utilizing drone platforms and their subsequent assessment for property exteriors, specifically roof damage detection.
PDC President Charles Mondello explained that the research goes beyond just inspection and damagedetection. “The PDC is also focusing on research into ongoing safety initiatives for collision avoidance,visual line of sight and automated flight planning; as well as looking into how to integrate resulting data from UAS inspections into existing workflows,” stated Mondello.
About Property Drone Consortium
The Property Drone Consortium represents a collaboration among insurance carriers, construction industry leaders and supporting enterprises who have agreed to work together to promote research, development and the establishment of regulations, standards and specifications for the use of Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) technology across the insurance and construction industries
Source: Press Release