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Re:Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for ... by zjaffee on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @05:06PM (#14962705)
Google however does have the ability to hand over the cost of insuring such a system to the consumer, so even at current accident rates the cost is around 100 dollars a month per car using such a system (driving 12000 miles in a year). This equates to something like a cent per mile. So let's say they want incredibly high quality insurance, charging an extra 5 cents per mile won't make a difference in the scheme of things should they be able to get the overall cost of commuting 15 miles (the average American commute in one direction), to something under 5 dollars.
Re:Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for ... by abalone on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @05:51PM (#14963201)
This aspect of insurance is widely misunderstood. First of all an extra 4 cents/mile just for insurance is really expensive. But wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits can result in very large judgements, especially when we get to punitive damages for a large corporation. Individual offenders regularly go bankrupt. It may be wishful thinking that this can be easily solved with "insurance". There is also the criminal negligence aspect to consider.
Re:Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for ... by spikels on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @09:20PM (#14964730)
4 cents/mile is roughly in line with rates for traditional auto insurance today. And as these rapid improvements are likely to continue, these costs will quickly come down.

Sure you can imagine some class action / criminal legal disaster but the auto industry has survived repeated scandals. Corporate criminal negligence is extremely rare.

In five or ten years this technology could be saving 100,000 lives every year. I hope we are not so risk adverse that these benefits are needlessly delayed.

http://www.insurance.com/auto-insurance/auto-insurance-basic...