Era of 70,000 Drones... Drone Insurance Market Awakens

Expanding Beyond Commercial Use to Personal Drones
Stronger Liability Insurance Requirements Overseas
"Build a Data-Based Foundation and Address Coverage Gaps"

As the drone industry experiences rapid growth, the insurance sector is seeking new sources of growth. With the increased use of personal drones and government policies aimed at fostering the drone industry, demand for related insurance products is expected to rise, drawing attention to the growth potential of the drone insurance market.

According to the insurance industry on June 9, the domestic drone market has grown rapidly in recent years, bringing drone insurance into the spotlight. The number of registered drones in Korea surpassed 70,000 as of the end of last year, and if personal drones weighing less than 2 kilograms, which are not required to be registered, are included, the actual scale is estimated to be even larger. On June 4, the government announced a drone development strategy centered on creating 2 trillion won worth of public demand over the next five years, accelerating the expansion of the related industry. As a result, demand for drone insurance, which covers various risks such as crashes and collisions, is expected to increase.

In response to these changes, insurance companies are targeting the drone insurance market. KB Insurance recently launched a product for users of personal and leisure drones. With a daily premium of around 10,000 won, the policy provides coverage of up to 500 million won. This is considered significant as drone insurance, which had previously focused on corporate and commercial use, is now expanding into the personal sector. However, in Korea, third-party liability insurance is currently mandatory only for business and public drones. There is no such obligation for personal drones, so available products are limited.

Industry experts suggest that activating the personal drone insurance market will require linking drone manufacturer services with insurance products. For example, the manufacturer's coverage services for drone damage and replacement could be combined with the insurer's bodily injury and property damage liability insurance.

Meanwhile, there are moves overseas to revise regulations and expand insurance requirements to include personal drones. China is discussing the introduction of a system that would require all drones to have liability insurance by 2027, and since last year, Poland has made it mandatory for all drones weighing more than 250 grams to be insured, regardless of usage purpose.

Chun Jiyeon, a research fellow at the Korea Insurance Research Institute, said, "As the scale of the drone industry grows, not only liability risks but also risks to personal portrait rights and privacy are likely to increase, so it is necessary to prepare countermeasures to mitigate coverage gaps in the event of an accident." She added, "In the future, it will be important to systematically collect operational information and accident statistics by ownership type, to establish standards for calculating premiums and to strengthen the data foundation for diversifying products."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.