The auto insurance risk will not be lower… it will take on new exposures and on balance be higher: product liability (for the vehicle itself), software liability (for the software navigating the vehicle), Internet of Things liability (for any failures in the physical artifacts linked to the vehicle which are needed to navigate the vehicle), property damage (yes, these vehicles will have collisions with various physical structures), bodily injury exposure (including hitting people who dart into the vehicle’s path in a time period in which the vehicle can not avoid hitting them), cyber liability (to protect against people hacking into the vehicle for nefarious reasons), and physical damage (for when the vehicle does get into an accident which it will. I’m sure I missed at least one or two other exposures which will require insurance for these types of vehicles.
You should see how these things look. It looks like a clown car. I’m not kidding.
It’s uglier than a Smart Car
Essentially people will be riding in a computer chip with wheels. This is one time I’m glad to be “older” – I love. my. BMW!
The auto insurance risk will not be lower… it will take on new exposures and on balance be higher: product liability (for the vehicle itself), software liability (for the software navigating the vehicle), Internet of Things liability (for any failures in the physical artifacts linked to the vehicle which are needed to navigate the vehicle), property damage (yes, these vehicles will have collisions with various physical structures), bodily injury exposure (including hitting people who dart into the vehicle’s path in a time period in which the vehicle can not avoid hitting them), cyber liability (to protect against people hacking into the vehicle for nefarious reasons), and physical damage (for when the vehicle does get into an accident which it will. I’m sure I missed at least one or two other exposures which will require insurance for these types of vehicles.
Wow. A first-gen auto drive car with no manual override controls.
What happens when they lose their signal, or better yet, when the computer OS crashes? Don’t tell me…they’ll put a “re-boot” button on the dash!