Three industry insiders give their views on this contentious issue.
Peter DaSilva, President and COO, Cornerstone Insurance Brokers:
“Not at all. Someone has to be responsible for the operation of the automobile in all situations. This will mean you will still have to learn to drive a vehicle, even if it is driverless, so that you can take over in case of emergency, and when that happens, you will need coverage. No system is completely glitch-free, so coverages will still be required of operators.
And what happens if you fail to maintain the vehicle to warranty standard and something goes wrong? Even if the manufacturer accepts liability for a properly maintained vehicle, they won’t accept it for a poorly maintained vehicle. Again, the driver needs coverage because they might be on the hook for being as little as one mile over the next required maintenance.”
Adam Mitchell, President, Mitchell & Whale Insurance Brokers:
I think driverless cars will mean the same thing for insurance as Amazon has meant for retail. It won’t be a mass exodus, but it will definitely be an instrument of change for the industry.
What you need to plan for defending against is not the highways full of driverless cars, but the technology that will come well before that: the accident-free car, or a car with the sensors and smarts to keep you from making any mistakes. When those cars hit a critical mass on the road, the frequency and severity of accidents will fall dramatically, in turn driving down premium and commissions per policy. It’s not property damage. Fear the accident-free car, not the driverless car.”
Debbie Thompson, Director of business development and managing partner, Beyond Insurance Brokers:
“I don’t believe so, as no one is usually absolved of an error, omission or misjudgment. Unless the manufacturer of the vehicle is going to accept 100% responsibility for the operation, which I doubt very much, there is a still a question of liability on the operator and the regulation of self-driving cars.
We know that in California, the Department of Motor Vehicles is stating that a licensed driver must be in the vehicle at all time, which says there is a level of responsibility transferred to the operator. The operator will still need personal automobile liability insurance.”
