My brothers and I got to talking and I had a rather interesting epiphany.
Fully automated vehicles will not be a thing.
Why?
Because it will put the auto insurance industry out of business.
Think about it for a moment. If you completely remove the human element from driving, then there is no one person to hold at fault for an accident - at best, such things will be considered 'industrial accidents' because they were caused by malfunctioning equipment. And therefore, no one will need to be required to have auto insurance - it would be the same sort of optional thing as home owners insurance. Nice to have, but not required by law.
And you can bet that people will not want to have to buy such insurance. Fault for accidents can be offloaded onto other entities that can easily absorb the damages - the manufactures and dealerships, or the local government if it was a malfunction in a traffic management system.'
For this reason, the auto insurance industry will not permit fully automated vehicles to be a thing - it would be their death knell.
Fully automated vehicles will not be a thing.
Why?
Because it will put the auto insurance industry out of business.
Think about it for a moment. If you completely remove the human element from driving, then there is no one person to hold at fault for an accident - at best, such things will be considered 'industrial accidents' because they were caused by malfunctioning equipment. And therefore, no one will need to be required to have auto insurance - it would be the same sort of optional thing as home owners insurance. Nice to have, but not required by law.
And you can bet that people will not want to have to buy such insurance. Fault for accidents can be offloaded onto other entities that can easily absorb the damages - the manufactures and dealerships, or the local government if it was a malfunction in a traffic management system.'
For this reason, the auto insurance industry will not permit fully automated vehicles to be a thing - it would be their death knell.