China’s motor insurance sector has a well-documented profitability problem. New data from one of its largest carriers suggests that deploying technology into the road itself – rather than only into the underwriting model – can produce measurable claims results.
Ping An Property & Casualty Insurance Company of China released a report in September 2026 on its “Traffic Lights” Road Safety Risk Mitigation Program, covering results from a nationwide initiative launched in July 2025.
The headline finding: at 1,620 high-risk intersections managed under the program, motor claims fell 50.4% year-on-year during the 2026 Spring Festival holiday period (February 15 to 23) and 32.1% during the International Labour Day holiday (May 1 to 5). Average property loss per claim dropped 19.3% and 20.4% in those respective periods.
For brokers placing commercial motor or fleet business in China, those figures carry implications that go beyond one insurer’s announcement.
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China’s motor insurance sector grew 3% in 2025, according to Swiss Re, with further moderation to between 2% and 3% expected in 2026. Profitability across the market is uneven.
The new energy vehicle (NEV) segment remains the most pressured area. The industry-wide EV combined ratio stood at approximately 105.7% in 2025 — an improvement from 109% in 2023, but still above breakeven for much of the market. Swiss Re notes that several major domestic insurers have achieved underwriting profitability in parts of their EV portfolios, though smaller carriers with less data and pricing capability continue to struggle.
The broader NEV insurance sector recorded an underwriting loss of CNY 5.6 billion in 2025, with 143 vehicle models carrying a loss ratio above 100%, according to industry data cited by BigGo Finance in April 2026.
Against that backdrop, demonstrated reductions in claims frequency at specific, identifiable locations carry real underwriting weight.
Ping An P&C’s platform draws on historical claims data, traffic accident blackspot records, real-time weather feeds, and road scenario data to identify high-risk sections. The insurer then works alongside traffic management authorities to act on those findings.
As of August 2026, the program covered all 31 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in China. More than 4,900 road sections had been upgraded, over 50,000 sets of safety equipment installed – including intelligent traffic lights, flashing warning lights, and speed bumps – and more than 2,500 road safety education campaigns conducted, reaching over 690 million people cumulatively.
Field deployments during the 2026 Spring Festival travel rush included 224 IoT-enabled micro-meteorological stations along 56 road sections in Guizhou Province, providing real-time alerts for conditions including ice and dense fog. In Hunan Province, drones equipped with the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System supported nighttime expressway patrols and incident response.
Ping An P&C stated in the report that the program “helps optimize underwriting risk structures, creating both social and economic value.”
That framing is directly relevant to brokers. According to Mordor Intelligence’s December 2025 China motor insurance report, agents and brokers held 45.9% of written motor premiums in 2024 – a position that is under pressure from faster-growing digital and embedded distribution channels. The ability to bring evidence of active risk management into a placement conversation is one area where intermediaries can add value that automated channels cannot easily replicate.
Aon’s Q3 2025 Global Insurance Market Insights noted broadly that clients investing in loss prevention and providing complete submission data are better positioned to secure more favourable terms from underwriters – a dynamic that applies across markets as carriers continue to differentiate between well-managed and challenging risks.
If carriers running active loss prevention programs begin to reflect that in how they approach risk selection for commercial fleets – and the Ping An data gives them a basis to do so – then brokers advising clients with motor exposure in China will need to understand which carriers are investing in this capability and which are not.
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This sits alongside a clear regulatory push. By late 2025, China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA) had moved from general digitisation policy to a concrete implementation plan for AI in banking and insurance, expressly backing intelligent underwriting models.
In June 2026, the NFRA followed with guidance requiring insurers to establish governance frameworks for AI applications, including enhanced controls for underwriting use cases, according to law firm Hogan Lovells.
A June 2025 Society of Actuaries report, drawing on surveys of 21 Chinese insurance companies, found that over 60% had at least one large language model (LLM) application in production, with underwriting cited as an active deployment area by 52% of respondents.
Ping An P&C stated: “Risk mitigation is not only an important social responsibility that helps protect public safety, but also a key driver for the insurance industry to reinforce its protection-oriented role and achieve high-quality development.”
Whether PICC, CPIC, or the growing field of NEV manufacturer-backed insurers are running comparable programs at scale remains an open question. What the Ping An report establishes is a claims frequency benchmark – and a model for how loss prevention capability may increasingly factor into carrier selection and commercial motor placement decisions.
