Self driving cars and cheaper car insurance
Will brass band musicians soon be able to practice in their cars, whilst they are being driven by a computer, completely impervious to how loud the sound is? And will we all benefit from cheaper car insurance as a result?
Self-driving cars are the future, and over the last few years, there has been an increasing number of news articles discussing self-driving cars and their implications on car insurance. However, most reports don't explain how they will impact car insurance premiums. What we don’t often hear is how this technology will actually reduce the cost of car insurance over time. And why is that? It’s because pricing for car insurance is heavily influenced by factors such as risks, human error, and reimbursement rates for repair shops.
Let’s take a closer look at this article to find out if the invention of self-driving cars will lead to cheaper car insurance in the future - and perhaps force cheap car insurance websites (such as prudentplus.com) out of business!.
What is a Self-Driving Car?
A self-driving car is a vehicle that can drive itself without the need for a human driver. The first primitive self-driving cars were introduced back in 1925, but the amount of research and development in the field has grown substantially since then.
Although there is no standard definition for a self-driving car, most experts agree that the following conditions must be met for a car to be considered self-driving:
- The car must be able to sense its environment.
- The car must be able to decide on an appropriate course of action
- The car must have the ability to execute the chosen course of action.
On the surface, autonomous driving doesn’t seem like a big deal. After all, humans make mistakes all the time, so it seems silly to think that autonomous vehicles would be different. It’s important to remember that car insurance rates are calculated based on risk factors. The more dangerous a car is, the higher the insurance rate. On the other hand, the less dangerous a car is, the cheaper the insurance rate. Let’s look at some of the risk factors for car accidents:
- Human Error: Human error is the primary factor in car accidents across the board. It is estimated that 93% of all car accidents are caused by driver error. Because humans are fallible, there is an inherent risk every time we get behind the wheel of a car.
- Weather Conditions: Weather conditions can impact driving conditions in a number of ways, including ice buildup, fog, rain, and snow. These conditions can increase the risk of an accident, particularly for inexperienced drivers.
- Road Conditions: The state of a road can impact the driving conditions of a car and lead to an accident. Potholes, road construction, and bad weather can all impact the driving conditions.
When autonomous cars first hit the road, they will have a lower risk of human error than regular cars. This lower risk of human error is expected to lead to lower car insurance rates.
It’s important to remember that car insurance rates change over time based on a number of factors. Along with time, autonomous vehicles will become more advanced. These advancements will lead to even lower car insurance rates because they will be less risky to insure.
Built-in safety features are the chief ways that self-driving cars will reduce the cost of car insurance over time. With self-driving cars, there’s simply no need for things like seatbelts or car seats for young children because the cars will be programmed not to harm anyone. Furthermore, self-driving cars will have no need for anti-lock brakes or any other mechanical safety devices. In other words, the cost of car insurance will be greatly reduced thanks to autonomous driving.
One important note is that although the cost of car insurance will be reduced, it will not completely disappear. Car insurance will always be necessary because accidents will continue to happen, and autonomous cars will cause accidents just like they do today.
Autonomous driving systems, such as Tesla’s Autopilot feature, are still error-prone. That is, they make mistakes and cause accidents just like humans do.
As autonomous cars become more popular, we may see a shift toward robotic repairs. Robotic repairs are similar to autonomous repairs except that they are performed by a robotic arm rather than a computer program.
The theory is that robotics repairs will make repairs significantly cheaper than at present since there will be no need for large numbers of well paid employees. All that will be needed is for a car to have a 3D scan of the damage and for the car to receive the necessary parts via an on-demand service. A robot will then carry out the necessary repairs.
While robotic repairs may sound like a good idea, there are some problems. First, autonomous repair shops may have a lower risk of human error, but on the other hand, they are not perfect. They make mistakes just like humans do.
When you read articles about the future of car technology, it can seem like everything is coming tomorrow. However, most of these technologies have been in development for quite some time, which means that they are likely to be deployed and used by consumers in the near future.
When it comes to the invention of self-driving cars, we are seeing good progress. There are currently a number of self-driving car companies that are testing their vehicles on public roads.
We may see the invention of self-driving cars lead to cheaper car insurance over time. As autonomous vehicles become more sophisticated, they will have lower risk factors than regular vehicles. This means that they will be less costly to insure than traditional cars, leading to lower car insurance rates.
There is a big problem with this theory though. The safety features of self driving cars may suffer failure because their sensors get obstructed by mud or snow. They may become unreliable through poor maintenance. High powered radio transmitters; or malicious hackers; might interfere with their performance.
There are also a lot of us who actually enjoy driving our vehicles! Perhaps the self driving car will prove to be an interesting toy in the end, brass bands will have to wait until they reach their destinations before they can practice, and the car insurance industry will just breath a sigh of relief and carry on the way it does now. The future is never predictable!