With driverless vehicles almost ready to take over the world, insurance is the sticking point according to the president of Ford Canada.
“There are a number of logistical challenges,” said Dianne Craig, Ford Canada’s president.
Craig says that insurance companies have to delineate what coverage passengers in self-driving vehicles would need. Also governments would need to tackle laws that address what Craig calls “autonomous” vehicles.
While Craig expects the car manufacturer will be able to bring an autonomous vehicle to market by 2021, she adds that the real hurdle to clear would be straightening out the insurance and legal issues attending such a launch, to say nothing of that other obstacle, gaining public trust.
One idea Craig puts forward to win the public’s trust – promote it via car-share companies. This strategy would allow novelty-seeking passengers to take a ride thus familiarizing them with the new technology.
Currently, the only North American jurisdictions to allow the vehicles are California, Nevada, Florida, Michigan and the District of Columbia.
Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau last month asked the Senate’s transportation and communications committee to study regulatory, policy and technical issues related to driverless vehicles.
Late last year, Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars, caused a significant stir
when he said Volvo “will accept full liability” whenever one of its cars is in autonomous, or so called 'self-driving', model.
