State Farm, the nation’s largest auto and home insurer, has been invited by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to participate on the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC). Membership on the UAS BVLOS ARC is by invitation only and includes a diverse set of leading aviation industry stakeholders from more than 80 organizations. State Farm was the only insurer invited to participate. Todd Binion (P&C Claims) and Maria Hagglund (Law Department) will represent State Farm as primary and alternate ARC members respectively.

“Our participation on this ARC aligns very well with who we are at State Farm,” said Todd Binion, Claim Section Manager in P&C Claims. “We’re the industry leader and we take that role very seriously. We’re laser focused on driving innovation and leveraging technology to serve our policyholders in more ways. Yet, at our core, we’re committed to ensuring that this can be done in a safe, responsible manner. These principles and our experiences as a leading UAS operator will guide our contributions towards shaping these future regulations.”

The UAS BVLOS ARC will provide recommendations to the FAA for a performance-based, technology agnostic regulatory framework to normalize safe, scalable, economically viable and environmentally advantageous BVLOS operations. The FAA took a similar approach to develop recommendations for new rules for Remote ID and UAS operations over people. These rules were released in December 2020 and were implemented earlier this year.

State Farm continues to be an industry leader in the testing and adoption of UAS technology. State Farm was the first insurer approved to conduct commercial UAS operations. When the Small UAS Rule was finalized, the FAA cited numerous comments provided by State Farm during the rule making process. During the 2018 hurricane season, State Farm was granted two operational waivers permitting operations over people (OOP) and flights beyond the pilot’s visual line of sight (BVLOS) for catastrophe response in across multiple states. The following year, State Farm received a first-of-its-kind waiver for BVLOS and OOP on a nationwide basis. State Farm sponsored novel testing at Virginia Tech that resulted in a waiver enabling safe operations that may involve flight over moving vehicles.

The UAS BVLOS ARC began meeting in June and final recommendations will be provided to the FAA by the end of this year.

About State Farm®:

The mission of State Farm is to help people manage the risks of everyday life, recover from the unexpected, and realize their dreams. State Farm and its affiliates are the largest providers of auto and home insurance in the United States. Its 19,300 agents and nearly 55,000 employees serve approximately 86 million policies and accounts – which includes auto, fire, life, health, commercial policies and financial services accounts. Commercial auto insurance, along with coverage for renters, business owners, boats and motorcycles, is available. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 39 on the 2021 Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit http://www.statefarm.com.

As an industry leader, safety has been at the forefront of our use of drone technology. State Farm was the first insurer to obtain an Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) waiver for commercial use. It collaborates with public sector partners like Virginia Tech’s Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP).  Data and research from these types of collaborative efforts is helping to drive innovation in this rapidly changing technology.

National Drone Safety Awareness Week is Nov. 4-10, 2019. It is meant to recognize and advance the public-private partnerships and collaborations with drone technology. Each day, drone successes and accomplishments within different sectors will be highlighted.

• Monday: Public Safety and Security
• Tuesday: Business – Photography, Real Estate, Insurance
• Wednesday: Business – Infrastructure and Agriculture
• Thursday: Business – Commercial and Medical Package Delivery
• Friday: Education and STEM
• Saturday and Sunday: Recreational Flyers

National Drone Safety Awareness Week Tweets 

Learn more about the use of drones in the insurance industry.

• AUVSI (January 8, 2019) – State Farm granted first national FAA waiver to conduct UAS flights over people and BVLOS
• Drone Life (January 8, 2019) - State Farm Granted First National FAA Waiver for Damage Assessment Drone Flights
• Virginia Tech Daily (March 8, 2019) - National waiver lays out a roadmap for drone integration
• Robotics Business Review (March 15, 2019) - How State Farm Earned National Waiver for Drone Flights

Innovative drone technologies allow the company to adapt to the changing needs of customers and communities. Two new State Farm drone pilots are spearheading the effort. The aerial data they gather will gain new insight into risks and how to mitigate them.

“Our data driven approach to understanding risks will help us evaluate environmental changes that could impact our customers,” says Melissa Seloover, Technology Manager for RED Labs.

Dynamic Duo

Tanya Leahy and Ben Clawson are the drone pilots deployed on this new initiative. Already private airplane pilots, they expanded their passion for aviation to also become FAA-certified drone pilots. They also happen to be siblings.

“We are competitive,” says Tanya. “Growing up, we didn’t share toys very well. Our mom thinks it’s hysterical we share a drone now.”

“I’m happy to be able to put our aviation background to use in a different way,” says Ben. “By being drone pilots for State Farm, we can increase our aviation knowledge and have a positive impact on the industry.”

“Ben and Tanya are unique for State Farm as the first, full-time, deployed drone pilots," says Seloover. “They are part of our greater innovation story, helping State Farm explore new opportunities.”

State Farm Drone History

This new effort extends the company’s use of drones. Internal research, as well as collaborative drone projects have resulted in significant progress.

Previous FAA waivers allowed:

• collaborations with Virginia Tech’s Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP) and participation in the FAA Integration Pilot Program (IPP)
• drone operations over people (OOP)
• flights beyond the pilot’s visual line of sight (BVLOS) for catastrophe damage
• flights related to claims (originally limited to geographic areas impacted by Hurricanes Florence and Michael)

“It’s been a team effort to make drone technology a reality,” says Senior Vice President for P&C Claims Robert Yi. “The waiver will provide our claims specialists with another way to efficiently help customers. We can use drones to assess on-the-ground damage and deploy resources. This is a huge win for our customers and demonstrates we’re recognized as a leader in drone technology.”

Current FAA regulations restrict pilots from flying drones beyond their visual line of sight and over groups of people. In a catastrophe situation, access to the impacted area may be challenged by water, debris and damage to infrastructure. The national waiver will also open up new innovation opportunities for State Farm by allowing longer-distance flights.

“There are many possibilities for the use of drones but FAA regulators need to be assured that operations can be conducted safely” said Mark Blanks, Director for the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP) at Virginia Tech. “State Farm had a compelling proposal for how drones could improve their customer experience and an unwavering commitment to safety. MAAP had the operational expertise and the research experience to help them navigate the approval process and collect supporting data. This success shows how powerful it can be when industry and academia collaborate to break new ground.”

How we got here

For nearly two years, State Farm has been working with the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP) at Virginia Tech on drone safety case research. In May 2018, the Commonwealth of Virginia was selected as one of 10 teams selected to be part of the FAA Integration Pilot Program (IPP). As a member of the Virginia IPP team, State Farm has worked with MAAP to assess a wide range of potential risks and strategies for reducing them.

“I’m proud of the teamwork demonstrated in making a nationwide waiver a reality at State Farm,” says Mark Oakley, Senior Vice President for Labs @ State Farm. “The partnership between Claims, Labs and Virginia Tech has been integral in getting us to this point. As the first and only company to secure a nationwide waiver to date, this is a substantial achievement and testament to the skills, knowledge, passion and commitment of these teams. We strongly believe the waivers provide us with the ability to explore new and exciting opportunities for State Farm.”

State Farm and MAAP have conducted numerous tests that evaluated the fixed-wing eBee Classic drone, manufactured by senseFly, for longer-distance damage assessment flights. Based on the strength of the research and resulting safety case documentation, the FAA approved temporary waivers for State Farm to conduct damage-assessment drone flights over people and beyond the operator’s visual line of sight in states impacted by Hurricanes Florence and Michael. Successful flights in the aftermath of the two hurricanes yielded valuable real-world experience and insights that were incorporated into the national waiver request.

Over the next several years, the members of the Virginia IPP team will continue exploring innovative ways to safely use drone technology, including catastrophe response, emergency management, and infrastructure inspection. The day-to-day operations of the Virginia IPP team is managed by MAAP.

In The News

• Forbes:  FAA OKs Long-Range Drone Flights Over Populated Areas By State Farm To Assess Florence Damage (9/19/18)

• Virginia Tech:  National waiver lays out a roadmap for drone integration (3/8/19)

• Robotics Business Review: How State Farm Earned National Waiver for Drone Flights (3/15/19)

In addition to the operational capabilities granted by these FAA waivers, State Farm will continue to utilize drone technology as a tool for our claim representatives to assist in individual inspections of our customers’ homes and properties related to these hurricanes.

It was less than one month ago when Hurricane Florence struck North and South Carolina. State Farm was the first and only insurance company to receive an FAA waiver allowing Claims pilots to operate drones beyond visual line of sight and over people for damage assessment. Drone flights were coordinated with the FAA and Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP) at Virginia Tech as part of the Integration Pilot Program for large-scale damage assessment in Virginia and South Carolina.

State Farm requires the ability to quickly assess damage after significant weather events in order to serve customers as efficiently as possible. Drone technology is an additional tool providing technical capabilities to quickly deploy over an event site and assess damage from the air. Data obtained from drone flights can be used for determining severity of the event for better resource allocation and quick determination of uninhabitable insured property.

State Farm drone pilots will operate eBee fixed-wing drones for flights approved under the FAA waiver for damage assessment. Claims representatives conducting drone flights for roof inspections will utilize Kespry multi-rotor drones.

The insurance company has been collaborating with the Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP) on one of ten elite teams selected earlier this year to the FAA Integration Pilot Program (IPP). Their successful application for this unprecedented waiver is a testament to the program’s success in facilitating rapid, research-based advances in drone operations to serve communities’ needs.

“State Farm needs to quickly assess damage after significant weather events,” says Robert Yi, Senior Vice President – State Farm. “Drone technology provides us with the capability to quickly deploy over a catastrophe site and assess damage from the air. The data we obtain from drone flights can be used to help us determine the severity of damage. This also allows us to place our Claims team on-the-ground and evaluate uninhabitable insured property.”

Since May 2018, State Farm has collaborated with MAAP and Virginia Tech’s world-renowned injury biomechanics group to assess a wide range of potential risks and strategies for reducing them; the team collected data on a variety of parameters including the aircraft’s communications performance, navigational precision, and the risk of injury to humans. The strength of the data made a compelling case to the FAA that State Farm could safely conduct sophisticated aerial damage-assessment operations following the devastating impact of Hurricane Florence. That capability gives State Farm additional tools to serve customers and moves the whole drone industry forward.

Current FAA regulations restrict pilots from flying drones beyond their visual line of sight and from flying drones over groups of people. In a catastrophe situation such as Hurricane Florence, access to the area may be challenged by water, debris, and damage to infrastructure. Damage may also extend across a large area, making efficient damage assessment very difficult. The new waiver will make the insurer’s work much easier by allowing longer-distance flights over densely populated areas.

The FAA waiver reflects months of detailed research following a process pioneered by MAAP for identifying, evaluating, and mitigating potential risks presented by drone operations.

“This is a pivotal moment that demonstrates the value of a risk-based safety case development process,” said MAAP director Mark Blanks. “Drone technology has tremendous potential to serve the public, but before we can harness that capability we need to demonstrate conclusively that ambitious operations can be done safely. This waiver, and the volume of research that backs it up, shows that this approach works.”

The disaster-assessment work this waiver will enable exemplifies the purpose of the IPP: to facilitate the next generation of drone applications by working with communities on groundbreaking projects that can improve the public’s quality of life and spur innovation. Through research collaboration with MAAP, State Farm determined that flying the eBee fixed-wing drone reduced the risk of damage to people and property. Manufactured by senseFly, the drone also captures high-resolution imagery.

Earlier this year, the Virginia-based research team was selected for the FAA Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Integration Pilot Program (IPP). The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced their selection of teams for the multi-year program following a competitive application process. State Farm is the only insurance company selected to participate in the program. Approximately 150 communities applied for the program. Only 10 teams from across the country were selected.

Over the next three years, the Virginia team will explore applications of drone technology including catastrophe response, emergency management, and infrastructure inspection. The day-to-day operations will be managed by Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP) at Virginia Tech, which has accumulated significant expertise running one of only seven federal test sites for unmanned aircraft systems. The organization has built a reputation for facilitation of ground-breaking testing while upholding the most rigorous standards of safety.

In The News

• Forbes:  FAA OKs Long-Range Drone Flights Over Populated Areas By State Farm To Assess Florence Damage (9/19/18)

• Unmanned Aerial:  State Farm Granted Key Drone Permissions for Florence Damage Assessment (9/19/18)

• The Roanoke Star:  VA Tech / State Farm Collaborate to Secure FAA Waiver for Drone Operations in Areas Impacted by Hurricane Florence (9/19/18)

State Farm is a member of the Virginia team led by the Commonwealth of Virginia through the state’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Investment Authority and the Center for Innovative Technology. Seven state agencies are part of the Virginia team in addition to eight corporate partners. Approximately 150 communities applied for the program. Only 10 teams from across the country were selected.

Over the next three years, the Virginia team will explore applications of drone technology including catastrophe response, emergency management, and infrastructure inspection. The day-to-day operations will be managed by Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP) at Virginia Tech, which has accumulated significant expertise running one of only seven federal test sites for unmanned aircraft systems. The organization has built a reputation for facilitation of ground-breaking testing while upholding the most rigorous standards of safety.

“State Farm has earned a reputation for providing an industry leading catastrophe response,” says Todd Binion, P&C Claims Staff Consultant at State Farm. “We see drone technology as an additional tool to help us assess damage and serve our customers and communities impacted by catastrophe events. We are excited to work alongside the FAA, MAAP, and other leaders in the drone space to address how drone technology can meet the ever changing needs of the public and private sector.”

In 2015, State Farm became the first insurance company in the U.S. to receive approval to conduct commercial UAS operations.

As the number of drones operating in U.S. airspace increases, the FAA has been working to respond to the growing interest in the commercial use of this technology, while balancing important concerns regarding public safety. The UAS IPP provides the opportunity for state, local, and tribal governments to partner with private sector entities to accelerate safe drone testing for currently restricted operations such as beyond-visual-line-of-sight flights and flights over people.