The expansion of ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft, and the emergence of self-driving cars are poised to transform the insurance industry. This also raises a bevy of questions, like does the ridesharing driver’s insurance or the company’s insurance respond if the driver is involved in an accident? Or what coverage is available if a self-driving car is involved in an accident?
Those issues were tackled at the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education’s Dec. 11 program “Insurance Issues Involving Rideshare and Self-Driving Cars.”
Program speakers Assemblyman Joseph A. Lagana, of Chasan, Lamparello, Mallon & Capuzzo; David Satine, of Budd Larner; Robert A. Becker, of Insurance Services Office; Michelle M. Cresti, of Macce & Cresti; and Julia Talarick, of Kinney, Lisovicz, Reilly & Wolff, shared their expertise on what was once thought a technology of the future, but is increasingly a part of everyday life.
Here’s an overview of the issues at stake:
Driverless and autonomous autos• Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates that there will be 3.5 million driverless autos by 2025 and 4.5 million by 2030.
• University of Minnesota professor estimates that every car on the road will be a driverless auto by 2030.
• IHS, a global information company, estimates that driverless autos with some driver control will be in use throughout the world by 2025 and that fully driverless autos in use by 2030.
• Tesla has an "Autopilot" mode in certain models that allows for autonomous steering, braking, and lane switching.
• Audi, Ford, Mercedes, Nissan, Toyota, and Volvo are all testing driverless autos.
• Google has been very involved in driverless auto development through the use of sensors like lasers, radars, and cameras to detect objects, and computers designed specifically for driverless autos.
• Apple is rumored to be developing an electric driverless auto.
Ridesharing• Ridesharing companies have been operating in New Jersey for a number of years.
• Uber claims to have signed up over 13,000 drivers since it began operations in New Jersey in 2013.
• Uber claims that it has provided millions of rides in New Jersey since it began operations.
• New Jersey enacted legislation to regulate ridesharing companies, making it the 36th state to do so.
The program will be coming soon as a CLE on-demand program at njicle.com.