Toronto, Ontario — For the first time ever, the International Bodyshop Industry Symposium U.S.A. was entirely simulcast online.
Kicking off on April 2, at 12 p.m. EST, the event opened with a message from IBIS executive director Jason Moseley, who delivered a brief opening address.
Moseley was followed by keynote speaker David Williams, the managing director of underwriting and technical services for AXA Insurance U.K, who discussed the many ways that the risks of insuring autonomous vehicles are unquantifiable at the moment.
“We pay lots of money for data to understand the driver…what we have to understand is that not all autonomous cars will behave the same way,” said Williams in his keynote address.
He also discussed how insurers are playing a key role in developing the regulatory climate of the autonomous insurance segment.
“Whether a car is driven by a person or a computer, there should be one set of rules. Consistency will make things much simpler.”
Williams also acknowledged another shift in the auto insurance sector–the increasing leverage of OEMs in the market.
“We think there is room for more collaboration,” Williams said, later adding that: “We could lose control of the claims process.”
Next, Jennifer Boyer, global collision business and strategy manager for Ford, discussed how OEM collision industry programs had shifted over the past few years.
Her speech made it clear that, while auto insurers might be interested in meeting OEMs in the middle when it comes to OEM-mandated repairs, Ford was resolved to carry-on without concern for its impact on auto insurers.
“Our Ford Certified Collision Network is now exceeding 2,000 locations,” said Boyer. “We have new collision repair training available, and are increasing consumer awareness through the ‘Keep your Ford a Ford’ campaign.”
Boyer also said the automaker has been surprised at how many people are actually using the app.
“We’ve been surprised by the user uptake,” Boyer answered. “It is getting thousands-of-hits per-week.”
Later in the broadcast, George R. Irving, Jr, national manager for service and collision operations, Toyota Motor North America, brought a similar perspective to the operations of OEM collision programs.
Verifacts’ Chris Ollia then spoke about current repair quality control methods.
The penultimate presentation was delivered by Skills USA champion Paul Allen Danenberg, who discussed his experiences in the national competition, and his views on why such events are crucial to the health of the collision sector worldwide.
Mario Dimovski, the CEO of Tradiebot, a tech firm involved in augmented reality, finished off the conference with a discussion of how AR tech can be used to train.
