Motor vehicle insurance: autonomous vehicles

The rapid development of technology allowing vehicles to be operated without any input from a driver has created complex legal issues. The technology has been tested in numerous jurisdictions and many of them have begun to consider how insurance law might be adopted to deal with the risk of accidents. It has been estimated by insurers that over 90 per cent of accidents are wholly or partly attributable to driver error.

With that possibility removed where vehicles are fully autonomous, or at least reduced for the interim period where the driver has the power to override the autonomous operation of the vehicle, accidents are likely to be the result of technological failure. That could be defective design of the vehicle itself, or some problem with the satellite technology necessary to operate the system.