UK to remove insurance barriers for self-driving cars
Insurance barriers to be removed for self-driving cars
New insurance rules are now being introduced in Britain plans to ensure victims of accidents involving self-driving cars are compensated quickly.
This will aid in opening up the self-driving car market by removing a major obstacle to the nascent industry.
Up until now, the introduction of self-driving cars has been hampered by many legal hurdles around the world as insurers and legislators try to establish who would ultimately be responsible in the event of an accident.
The Transport minister in the UK, Chris Grayling said, "We must ensure the public is protected in the event of an incident and this week we are introducing the framework to allow insurance for these new technologies,"
It is proposed that one single insurance product will cover a driver when a vehicle is being used conventionally, as well as when the car is being used in autopilot mode.
These changes come in response to the British government’s initiative to encourage the development and testing of autonomous driving technology.
These kinds of insurance products could be worth in the region of 900 billion pounds which is over a trillion euros worldwide by 2025.
There have been some recent accidents involving a self-driving Google car and a Tesla model car while they were in autopilot mode which has raised some major concerns amongst members of the public as to the safety of the autonomous vehicles while on road testing.
These legitimate concerns are being addressed by the manufacturers and the technologies are constantly being enhanced and developed.
Nissan is planning to test its own autonomous cars in London later this month. Initial trials on public roads were carried out in Milton Keynes late last year.
With the arrival of autonomous vehicles on the roads, new infrastructure will need to be constructed such as charging points for electric vehicles to accommodate the fastest growing sector for new car sales.
Author
Justin Kavanagh
Justin Kavanagh is a recognised leader
in automotive intelligence and vehicle
data supply to the entire motor industry.
He has almost 20 years experience in
building systems from the ground up.
As the Managing Director of Vehicle
Management System, he understands the
need and importance of trustworthy and
reliable vehicle history and advice to
both the trade and the public.
Follow me on LinkedIn