Autonomous Car Insurance and How It Works
With technology in our society advancing at such an incredible rate, all of our cars could have minds entirely of their own within years. As a matter of fact, we are on our way there already. They are not yet available on a large scale. However, autonomous cars certainly are a reality and could eventually integrate themselves fully into our everyday lives. The question that many are asking has to do with insurance for an autonomous car. Car insurance typically protects the driver and car from mistakes that are caused by the driver. So if all cars will be completely autonomous and self-sufficient from humans, what is the point of insurance? If the car gets in an accident, who is then held responsible? In this futuristic dilemma, car insurance will work a little differently than we’re used to, but American Business Insurance is prepared to handle it.
How Do Autonomous Vehicles Work?
Essentially, autonomous vehicle manufacturers and designers will think of everything that a car needs a human for and remove those needs. For example, an autonomous car will be built with a GPS in it, so it doesn’t need a person to control navigation. Many of them also have sensors in and around them, in order to help them avoid accidents. Of course, this would typically be the job of the driver. There is also the element of augmented reality. AR is a method of getting information to the driver, such as displaying it on the windshield. This information could be directions, the speed of the car, information about the music that’s playing, etc. And the vehicle is the one that has it all. The would-be driver just turns into a rider, and the car handles the rest.
Changes in Insurance
Insurance for autonomous vehicles will play a different role than insurance for a regular car. Instead of the driver or owner of the vehicle is responsible for accidents, it would likely be the manufacturer of the autonomous vehicle. Now, it’s rare for a malfunction of the vehicle to be the cause of an accident; they are almost always a result of human error. This could be the largest change to car insurance if and when autonomous vehicles become a norm in our society. Manufacturers being held responsible for insuring each vehicle themselves will create an expensive, long-term process before the vehicles can be safely put to use. It will also require an extensive process of making sure that many ethical issues are covered.
ABI’s Role
The idea that human-operated vehicles will be obsolete in everyday life may seem plausible only in the distant future. However, functioning autonomous cars are on their way to changing transportation forever. There are countless pros to autonomous vehicles, but insuring all vehicles so that riders are promised complete safety would be the primary con. To ease the process of insuring self-driving cars, ABI’s Insurance Services have exactly what it takes for companies to make the transition from human-driven cars to self-driven cars. With 75 years of experience in transportation network companies, ABI can make riders feel safe using new technology, and help our society continue to evolve in amazing ways. ABI has direct relationships with the insurance carriers they write policies through, allowing for great efficiency and attention to detail. But you don’t have to wait for all cars to drive themselves to achieve this kind of protection and safety; contact ABI for both large and small fleet insurance today!