New Book Recommends Regulators take a Proactive Approach to Driverless Cars
Posted on Jan 24, 2017 in Insurance Regulation | Comments Off on New Book Recommends Regulators take a Proactive Approach to Driverless Cars
In their new book, Driverless: Intelligent Cars and the Road Ahead, Hod Lipson and Melba Kurman state that government must expend considerable resources in crafting meaningful regulation: A driverless license is a good start, but a significant amount more research and exploration of regulatory oversight is needed. Ideally, the highest levels of the government should adopt a proactive,...
NHTSA finds no vehicle defects in Tesla accident investigation
Posted on Jan 23, 2017 in Technology Impacting Auto Insurance | Comments Off on NHTSA finds no vehicle defects in Tesla accident investigation
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has found no evidence of design or performance defects in its investigation of a May 2016 fatal accident involving a Tesla. The accident occurred near Williston, Florida when a driver operating his Model S in Autopilot collided with a trailer truck and was killed. In its report, NHTSA found that the trailer truck was visible to...
How Technology May Affect Insurance in 2017
Posted on Jan 11, 2017 in Insurance Developments and Trends | Comments Off on How Technology May Affect Insurance in 2017
Marsh has released a new report on trends anticipated in the United States casualty insurance marketplace in 2017. It noted that the Internet of Things, the sharing economy, and autonomous vehicles will all begin to make major changes to the insurance business in the coming year. In particular, telematics that track vehicle performance and driver behavior may enable insurers to offer...
Alphabet Reduces Cost for Self-Driving Sensor
Posted on Jan 11, 2017 in Industry News | Comments Off on Alphabet Reduces Cost for Self-Driving Sensor
Waymo, the self-driving vehicle unit of Alphabet, Inc., has announced that it reached a milestone of building all of its self-driving hardware in-house. The company noted that it was able to cut the cost of a key component by 90% from its cost in 2009. The component uses “LiDAR” (similar to radar, but with light instead of radio waves) to detect a vehicle’s surroundings. Waymo debuted...
State Transit Authorities Develop “Smart Roads”
Posted on Jan 3, 2017 in Industry News, Technology Impacting Auto Insurance | Comments Off on State Transit Authorities Develop “Smart Roads”
A handful of states are responding to the smart car surge by developing and installing “smart roads”—technology-aided roads using fiber optics, cameras, and signaling devices to communicate with drivers, autonomous vehicles, and even transit authorities. For example, Virginia has installed “smart road” devices on light poles and bridges on certain roads, which watch the highway,...
