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To: GreenAccord
The tipping point will simply be the moment accident rates for self-driven cars fall below the current accident rates. They do not have to be infallible, just less fallible. And then, insurance rates for non-*smart* cars will begin to rise until there’s a financial reason to switch.

Oddly enough, insurability might actually be a fatal flaw in self-driven cars. If something malfunctions and my "self-driving car" gets involved in a crash that causes a serious injury to another motorist or a pedestrian, then who is liable for the damages?

Since a self-driving car is so reliant on interactions between a car and other technology outside the car that are out of the control of the car's owner, I can see us getting to the point where insurance companies will refuse to insure them!

65 posted on 03/07/2015 6:38:19 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("It doesn't work for me. I gotta have more cowbell!")
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To: Alberta's Child

I think there’s already a model to look at in this regard, and it’s the automotive costs themselves already have built in liability expense. The costs of recalls are certainly an accounting accrual, whether they happen or not for a model. I would think the same would hold true for the manufacturer liability for this technology as well.

That cost will be part of the fallibility calculations.


91 posted on 03/07/2015 7:56:09 AM PST by GreenAccord (Bacon Akbar)
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