UK gets first insurance policy for driverless cars

UK gets first insurance policy for driverless cars

Available to owners of vehicles with autonomous features.

Adrian Flux's policy says that drivers won't be able to take naps at the wheelnd turn on the autopilot

AN INSURANCE BROKER has launched the UK's first driverless car insurance policy aimed owners of cars that have driverless or autonomous features.

The company, Adrian Flux, explained that it designed the policy for people who already own a car kitted out with autonomous tech, and for those who may be thinking of buying a new car with autopilot features, such as Tesla's forthcoming Model 3.

The new policy shares many similarities with a typical car insurance policy, but covers additional factors relating to driverless technology.

Car owners are covered for loss or damage if updates or security patches for elements like the driverless operating system, firewalls, electronic mapping and journey planning systems haven't been installed in the vehicle within 24 hours of the owner being notified by the manufacturer or software provider.

They are also covered if the car gets hacked or an attempted hack results in loss or damage, and if there are satellite failures that affect the navigation systems or the manufacturer's operating system or other authorised software failures.

The final point covers loss or damage caused "by failing when able to use manual override to avoid a collision or accident in the event of operating system, navigation system or mechanical failure".

Aside from the technical aspects of driverless cars, insurance is one of the biggest talking points because the introduction of such vehicles will place greater scrutiny on the vehicle manufacturer than the owner in the event of an accident. The UK government said last month that self-driving car manufacturers will be held responsible for accidents.

Meanwhile, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the US has said that it considers Google's autonomous driving software as the driver. But this contradicts a previous ruling in California which found that a fully licensed driver must be present in the car.

A number of factors would be considered when it comes to liability for an accident or collision to answer what Adrian Flux called "a $64m question".

The driver may not bear any responsibility if the car's driverless technology or its supporting systems are shown to have failed or caused some other disruption resulting in an accident, collision or other type of damage, it said.

But, importantly, the policy states that the driver "will always need to be able to take control of the car at any point in their journey", meaning that a driver cannot turn on the autopilot and nap at the wheel or be intoxicated while in the driving seat. µ

source: www.theinquirer.net