State Farm receives go-ahead to test unmanned aircraft systems

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company announced on Tuesday that it is the first insurer in the United States to receive permission from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to test unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for commercial use.

The decision provides the insurer the opportunity to research this new technology and potentially deploy it in ways that could benefit customers, the insurer said in a press release. Bloomington, Illinois-based State Farm plans to explore the use of unmanned aircraft to assess potential roof damage during the claims process and respond to natural disasters.

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 “The potential use of UAS provides us one more innovative tool to help State Farm customers recover from the unexpected as quickly and efficiently as possible,” said Wensley Herbert, operations vice president – claims, in the release. “We will continue to provide the same personal, good neighbor service State Farm is recognized for, with assistance from these high-tech devices.”

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The company plans to move forward with test and development flights at private test sites in the Bloomington area, while strictly adhering to parameters set forth by the FAA, State Farm said in the release. “Eventually, these test flights will evolve to testing in real-world scenarios.”

State Farm and its affiliates are the largest provider of car insurance in the U.S., with more than 18,000 agents and more than 65,000 employees serving over 82 million policies and accounts – nearly 80 million auto, home, life, health and commercial policies, and almost two million bank accounts.