Self driving cars are now available to the public. With companies like Tesla, Uber, Google, and Toyota (to name a few) jumping on the self-driving bandwagon, the question is: “Will it affect my insurance policy?”

The Answer Right Now: No

Unfortunately, driving is still considered to be done by the person behind the wheel. Most insurance companies have not factored in the use of self-driving vehicles…yet. This doesn’t mean that it will change, though. With the launch of many driverless cars in the next year, the thought of how insurance will play a role will be rethought.

Self Driving Cars: Why?

Simply, there aren’t enough on the road right now to warrant any course of action for insurance companies. A driver still needs to be behind the wheel, even for stage-4 AI-driven cars, thus the insurance policy hinges on whoever is driving.

Is there a plan for Self Driving Cars?

In the grand scheme of things, the industry is clearly heading into automated driving. Be that as it may, insurance companies will have a hard time calculating the risks involved with AI behind the wheel. You can’t look at a specific AI driving record, and each one is different. Thus, calculating the risk will remain as the driver’s history.

Insurance Policies Will Go Down

Once a set of rules for AI cars is established, then insurance companies can effectively calculate the risks involved with driving one. When more cars are on the road and the information can be adequately calculated, risk management can step in. Even if you have a history of poor driving, that will not matter due to the nature of not needing to drive. This is, of course, reliant only when more AI-driven cars are on the road. As of right now, Google has utilized its self-driving platform for road safety. The companies predicted end-game will be to cut down on drunk driving accidents by upwards of 90 percent.