A demonstrator introduces an autonomous vehicle, which was developed by Hanyang University’s Automotive Control and Electronic Lab, on March 11, 2019. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 4 (Korea Bizwire) — The trend of convergence in the roles of carmakers and auto insurers is forecast to accelerate as self-driving technologies continue to become more sophisticated, a report showed Monday.
A growing number of carmakers are providing car insurance services by themselves or establishing joint ventures with insurance companies to develop car insurance products, according to a report from the Korea Insurance Research Institute (KIRI).
U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc. is now providing insurance service for its EVs.
German automaker Daimler AG recently set up a joint venture with Swiss Re, the world’s largest reinsurer, and announced plans to operate the new entity as a comprehensive car insurance platform.
The report said, “Taking these trends into account, there is a potential that carmakers and auto insurers will cooperate or their roles will converge in the self-driving era.”
The report noted that in the self-driving era, it would become possible to conduct an analysis of accident risk as well as to determine compensation for accidents using the data accumulated through the sensors found in self-driving vehicles.
Carmakers would be in the best position to secure such data and therefore could replace the role of auto insurers.
The KIRI went on to say that given self-driving systems are a type of artificial intelligence (AI), the issue related with the responsibility and insurance of self-driving vehicle accidents should be discussed from the perspective of an AI’s responsibility and insurance.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
