Insurance Companies Looking For Fallback Plans To Survive Driverless Cars (csmonitor.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Driverless cars could mean a huge downsizing of the auto insurance industry, as the frequency of accidents declines and liability shifts from the driver to the vehicle's software or automaker. This is compounded by the rise of ride-sharing services. Once summoning a vehicle to take you somewhere isn't limited by the number of people available to drive them (and are correspondingly cheaper), car ownership is likely to decline. Many major automakers and tech companies are throwing billions of research dollars into making this happen, and insurance companies are trying to figure out how to survive. For example, a recent patent application shows State Farm is betting on collecting massive amounts of data about you. While they'll no doubt use it to set your insurance rates, they also plan to "send you advice, alerts, coupons or discounts on insurance or other goods and services." Traveler's Insurance is thinking along somewhat similar lines. They want to create "a device that offers specific suggestions for managing errands and other travel. Customers would be able to see a map of 'risk zone' data for places they want to go, such as stores, restaurants and roads. They could then plan the day 'with an eye toward how risky such endeavors may be,' according to the patent application."

Comments

Re:Seems non-sequitur.

[ultranova]

This almost sounds like Flo is plugging that Progressive tracking chip straight in your head...and charging you based on your risk behaviors and travels for each day.

Really, now? Because last I checked, it was the Conservatives who go into conniptions over the thought of subsidizing someone else's suboptimal behaviour. It's your side which insists on everyone carrying their own risk and nothing more, and thus needs to track it on an individual basis. The Progressive approach is to tax everyone, give help to whoever needs it, and simply accept that this means some people end up costing more than they pay.

Fsck that.....

Indeed.