We live in the future!

We have cars that drive themselves and need no interaction with humans to get them from point A to point B. These self-driving cars are going to revolutionize every industry on the planet when the market saturates with them.

There is one major question that will determine a lot with these cars: Who controls them? Who determines what a safe driving and stopping distance is? Some say the car manufacturers, some say the government, some say that it should be the insurance companies.

Having insurance companies making these kinds of decisions could be dangerous. Insurance companies have a vested interest in there being car accidents. If technology were able to eliminate car accidents by 90%, then theoretically 90% of the car insurance industry will also be eliminated. It wouldn’t be outrageous to think that car insurance companies would lobby for the rights to control the decision making capabilities of cars in order to stay in business.

This brings up many other questions as well. Will we one day do away with the ability to manually drive your car? Would your insurance be much higher if you have that ability? Will there be exceptions for emergencies like getting to the hospital? Will all the code be safe from hackers? These are fundamental questions that need to be solved before the market is saturated with these cars.

Eric Cawley is an occasional blogger for Gary Stringham & Associates. Gary provides consulting and expert witness services in embedded systems such as robotics. Feel free to contact Gary at 208-939-6984.