The first "driverless cars" now are hitting the highways, aiming
to reduce accidents and make traveling safer. Fewer accidents
should lead to lower
car insurance rates
. But who will be "at fault" if an automated car causes a
crash?
The insurance industry is only starting to consider these
issues. Nevada recently approved the
first U.S. license for a driverless car
, and a similar process is under way in California. Also known as
autonomous vehicles or "robot cars," the prototypes from Google
feature self-driving technology that includes radar sensors that
detect traffic. The prototypes also are equipped with video
cameras, laser range finders and global positioning systems (GPS).
The widespread use of driverless cars is "a long way off," says
Russ Rader, spokesperson for the Insurance Institute for Highway
Safety. "But there are systems on vehicles right now that are the
building blocks for autonomous vehicles."
Technology such as forward collision warning with automatic
braking and electronic stability control already are making roads
safer, he adds. Within a few years, there will be a semiautonomous
vehicle available that can "drive itself in certain situations,"
such as in stop-and-go commuter traffic.
Rader says most accidents are caused by driver error. With fully
autonomous vehicles, "the potential safety benefits are large, but
the jury is still out on whether these systems will actually reduce
crashes in the real world."
Fewer accidents mean lower premiums
Fewer accidents should mean fewer insurance claims, and thus
lower premiums. Donald Light, a senior analyst for the financial
services consulting company Celent, expects that improving
technology could lead to a significant decrease in car insurance
premiums. Light's
recent study looked at several trends
, including automated traffic law enforcement, collision avoidance,
improved data gathering and, eventually, robot cars.
Under his scenario, technology that "radically reduces the
frequency and severity of motor vehicle accidents" would mean the
"need for automobile insurance is substantially reduced." The study
projects total premiums dropping by 9 percent from 2013 to 2017 and
by 26 percent from 2018 to 2022 as a result of new
technologies.
Whether your car is controlled by a computer or by you, you'll
still need liability insurance to protect you in the case of an
accident, says Jim Whittle, assistant general counsel and chief
claims counsel for the American Insurance Association (AIA).
Some observers have expressed concern that "robot car"
technology is rolling ahead faster than state laws can keep up.
Whittle says sometimes "the law does evolve to account for new
technologies, or the law applies long-established legal concepts to
new technologies." Concepts such as product liability and
negligence already exist, but to his knowledge they have not yet
been applied to cases involving autonomous cars.
Light also says he is not aware of any case law yet concerning
driverless cars. "It's still early for insurance companies" to know
how they will handle automated vehicles, he says. There are a
number of potential liability areas, such as how the hardware and
software involved interacts with the car; whether the manufacturer
is at fault; the role of other cars or pedestrians; and failure of
the owner to perform proper maintenance on the vehicle and its
automated systems.
When is a robot at fault?
Would it be more difficult to determine fault in a car accident
without a human driver? Whittle, a former defense attorney, notes
that each case depends on its own particular set of facts.
"In a situation like that, it is possible the owner could be
considered at fault. Perhaps he was allowing the car to drive
itself under conditions that the manufacturer would say were not
appropriate for self-driving," he says.
Both parties could share responsibility. Or, there could be
allegations that the computer malfunctioned or that the software
was programmed negligently.
And what if two driverless cars collided? Whittle says it "would
be interesting to see how that plays out. How long will it be until
someone says, 'It wasn't me; I wasn't driving'?"
Whittle expects that a driver's risk characteristics will
continue to be important for insurers in setting rates, even for
cars that might normally operate without human intervention. It is
likely that, for at least the near-term, these vehicles will offer
an option allowing you to take control of the vehicle by overriding
the driverless features.
Your marital status, age, driving record and other personal
factors still will matter when it comes to setting your premiums.
And a person with a bad driving record isn't likely to get a second
chance at
affordable car insurance
just because he or she buys a driverless car.
If driverless cars have an option for manual operation, "the
insurer might have to assume that it is being manually operated all
the time," Whittle notes. "Otherwise, they may be missing important
risk characteristics to be sure they are setting a proper rate for
coverage."
Proponents of driverless autos held a meeting June 12-13 in
Detroit. The Driverless Car Summit 2012 considered ways to improve
existing technology. Not everyone is pushing for the use of
driverless cars, however. In California, the nonprofit Consumer
Watchdog organization recently urged state lawmakers to bar
Google's driverless cars from state highways until there is a ban
on collecting movement data on drivers of such vehicles. The group
says such information gathering would violate drivers' rights to
privacy.
Overall, Whittle says AIA considers autonomous vehicles "a
fascinating development" with the potential for improving road
safety. However, "it doesn't mean people won't be hurt in an
accident. Unless this develops into a perfect state, you still have
the potential for being seriously harmed in one of the most
dangerous things we do on a regular basis."