13 Sep 2016

Going Forward With Driverless Cars

Driverless cars are presenting themselves as a challenge for the insurance industry and is calling for clarity and a legal right to claim damages from manufacturers.

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The new breed of vehicles presents unique challenges to the insurance industry, particularly where a car is not fully autonomous. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) would prefer that everything went through a single source, reducing complexity for the driver. The government is currently proposing a conventional policy with a 'bolt-on' for the product liability, but the ABI says that existing liability cover is insufficient for driverless cars, leading to too many cases of a manufacturer denying liability.

In order to maintain a single policy process for the driver, where the insurers pursue the other companies and manufacturers after a claim has been paid, legislation will need to be altered to bring clarity to the responsibilities of manufacturers and drivers.

Premiums could go down by as much as 63% by 2060, ABI predicts, with profits falling by 81%, due to safety and car sharing improvements.