Autonomous driving has not been established yet but still the day may come when private cars will disappear from the streets completely. It is one of the numerous debates within future mobility: Will privately-owned cars exist in future? Many studies confirm that the traditional status symbol will vanish – slowly but surely.
Transportation Services & Private Cars
Last year the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) has already stated that the demand for new cars is decreasing, especially in places where transport services like Uber and Lyft are established. Several car manufactures are currently setting up similar models pushing their transition to mobility service providers. The study shows that people tend to buy new cars when there are no transport services given. This means that the mobility offer in a specific area defines the locals relation to mobility.
Changing Insurance
The insurance industry spotted this trend as well. Various insurance companies are already offering specific telematics rates including discounts for people who avoid accidents for a long period of time or a certain number of driven kilometers. This caused many critics to forecast the quick end of motor vehicle insurance. This scenery additionally alters with the development of autonomous driving. Experts suppose that with autonomous cars established there will be less accidents. But the ones that happen will cause higher damage costs because of the sensors that have to be repaired or replaced for vehicle control.
Swiss Re: Fall of Insurance Fees?
Swiss Re already expects the number of privately insured cars to drop sharply - their analysis predicts a decrease of about 15%. This also impacts the car insurance model, which, according to Swiss Re, soon won’t be profitable anymore. Just like car manufacturers Swiss Re sees the big money within the data that is collected by autonomous cars. As a result Swiss Re started to collaborate with the japanese conglomerate Softbank to in terms of telematics. More details on the deal are yet to be provided.
About the author:
David Fluhr is journalist and owner of the digital magazine “Autonomes Fahren & Co”. He is reporting regularly about trends and technologies in the fields Autonomous Driving, HMI, Telematics and Robotics. Link to his site: http://www.autonomes-fahren.de