Two industry experts have weighed in on the issue of driverless cars, saying that the auto insurance industry can adapt to this highly disruptive technology.
Research and computer modeling conducted by Accenture and the Stevens Institute of Technology projected that by the year 2035, as many as 23 million fully-autonomous vehicles will be travelling US highways, out of the roughly 250 million total cars and trucks registered in the country.
“We believe that most fully autonomous vehicles will not be owned by individuals, but by auto manufacturers such as General Motors, by technology companies such as Google and Apple, and by other service providers such as ride-sharing services,” said Accenture executives John Cusano and Michael Costonis.
Cusano and Costonis – a financial services management consulting senior managing director and global insurance practice lead, respectively – shared their thoughts on how driverless cars would affect the insurance industry, and how insurers should respond, in an opinion piece on Harvard Business Review.
Both experts agree that because the auto insurance industry is all about covering for privately owned vehicles, insurers have every reason to be concerned about their future growth and productivity. They explained that with fewer individual owners due to manufacturers and tech companies taking responsibility for their own autonomous cars