The motor research body Thatcham is offering insurance companies a new dataset which it says offers the most detailed insight yet to the risk-affecting technologies on new cars.

It says ADAS technologies present insurers with “new risk considerations” and so is acting to give its members “the powerful data they need to understand vehicle risk today and into the future”.

Thatcham says the launch of its Variant Code dataset represents the first stage in the delivery of its long-term vision for the future of vehicle risk rating, which centres around being more dexterous with data and using that to provide insurers with intelligent insight.

It brings together detailed and precise data that has been collated during Thatcham Research’s independent, hands-on vehicle testing-based research, directly from vehicle manufacturers and third-party data providers.

The Variant Code contains data for more than 30,000 vehicle variants across 98% of cars in the market including all major vehicles released in the UK since 2015.

“We are moving into a whole new vehicle paradigm in an ever more complex mobility ecosystem,” commented CEO Jonathan Hewett. “Insurers need to develop evolving approaches to vehicle risk analytics – right down to the smallest specification – associated with each vehicle.”