Smart Glass Glimpse, 11/14/16

Smart Glass Glimpse brings you the latest technology news in the glass and glazing industry so you can easily keep updated.

So, What's Going To Happen With Insurance Premiums When Autonomous Vehicles Take Over?

We all know that insurance is a headache. Be it medical or car insurance, there always seems to be something that we're not covered for, that premiums are going up by the minute, or that there's some type of miscommunications between you and an agent which causes problems in the future. Insurance companies are a nightmare.

Since we've been discussing the rise of autonomous vehicles, I have briefly discussed the expectations for insurance companies as more and more people acquire self-driving cars. I've said before that drivers expect insurance companies to cover damage caused by hackers. I also said that a projection estimated car insurance premiums would be reduced by 40% with a self-driving car. Well, sorry to disappoint, but it looks like insurance premiums will not be changing much with the autonomous vehicle movement.

An article by CBS in the San Francisco Bay Area revealed that even with the innovative safety mechanisms now featured in most modern vehicles, insurance companies will not give in. If car insurance rates are calculated based on risk, you would expect technology that lowers the risk of accidents and collisions to provoke a response from the insurance company. A source from the article says that insurance companies are slow to acknowledge new developments, so maybe when the technology becomes more widely adopted we'll begin to see some changes.

So, folks, in summary, it seems that the race to autonomous vehicles will slowly unravel, slower than any of us expected. The desperation of automotive companies to launch the first fully autonomous vehicle will not be able to compete with a world that is simply not ready for this type of technology. We shall patiently wait, or even anxiously wait, as some may dread a world of autonomous vehicles and some may welcome it with open arms.

So, tell us, what group do you belong to? Those who wait for autonomous vehicles with excitement, or those who dread the impending takeover of our planet by robots? Let us know in a comment below.