DroneInsurance’s partnership with DroneDeploy fuels rapid insurance expansion

The drone industry has had its fair share of business trends ranging from cameras to mapping software to toy drones to LAANC providers. But there’s one trend that’s flying high this year, and it’s being dominated by one company in particular: drone insurance.

The big player in the commercial drone insurance industry, REIN’s DroneInsurance.com, continues to position itself as the leader in commercial drone insurance options. The company this week just announced a long-term collaboration with DroneDeploy.

The collaboration means that DroneInsurance.com’s commercial-focused insurance solutions will be accessible via the DroneDeploy desktop and mobile drone mapping apps. 

DroneDeploy is a San Francisco-based drone mapping software platform and data repository. DroneDeploy is already moving toward being a “complete workflow” for commercial drone operators by automating flights and managing data. The DroneInsurance announcement takes operations a step further by integrating drone insurance into the workflow.

DroneInsurance.com’s news of the partnership with DroneDeploy comes on the heels of another major partnership. DroneInsurance.com announced last month that it is now collaborating with AeroVironment to offer commercial drone insurance solutions for the Quantix drone. Earlier this summer, its parent company, REIN, announced a $7.3 million venture funding round with investors including Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures and Kiplin Capital.

DroneInsurance.com is a provider of dynamic insurance policies that offer Flight Liability Coverage on-demand for custom time periods, ranging from one day to a year. Coverage options for essential flight equipment including sensors and ground equipment are also available. REIN also offers businesses coverage on ground operations for a monthly rate.

DroneInsurance.com is now available through the DroneDeploy App Market, where users can choose to add it to their pre-flight mapping workflows via DroneDeploy’s desktop and mobile apps. Here’s how it works:

1. Add the DroneInsurance.com app from the DroneDeploy App Market, and create an (or access your existing) DroneInsurance.com account through the DroneDeploy ecosystem.
2. If you have an existing DroneInsurance.com account, the DroneDeploy dashboard will show your existing coverages, or allow you to adjust coverage if needed. New users will have to set up your profile, add a pilot and a drone.
3. The ability to add on-demand flight coverage then will be automatically integrated into the DroneDeploy pre-flight workflow (you’ll also have to read and sign some policy documents).

Unlike car insurance, drone insurance is not a legal requirement in the U.S., according to the Federal Aviation Administration. But, having it could save you a lot of headache later, should you become liable for damages caused by your drone. And many commercial businesses won’t hire freelance drone pilots unless they have drone insurance coverage.

This has not only been a big year for DroneInsurance but for DroneDeploy as well. The software provider this year announced a partnership with SoftBank, solidifying its place as the only cloud drone software solution distributed on its ecosystem. It also announced a partnership with drone operations company DroneBase for a “drone on demand” product. Dubbed Drone on Demand, it allows customers to plan a flight mission using DroneDeploy’s cloud platform—and then request a certified professional pilot from DroneBase to go to the site, perform the flight, and collect aerial data.