In the minds of many, autonomous vehicles are the future dream, promising cheap, accident free driving where the old get around for longer and the young can get into cars earlier.
For if cars drive themselves and no-one has their hands on the wheel then the responsibility must be at the wheels of the robot car makers.
A world of independence conferred by Artificial Intelligence. Where cars are fuelled with free electricity from solar panels and we throw away our insurance cover and pass our travel cares to the vehicle manufacturers. There will be no more draughty, smelly petrol stations to separate us from the best part of €100 for carbon fuel, because the solar panels on our house’s roofs promise unlimited environmentally friendly travel due to the smart metres measuring your contribution to the grid. This means that you will be able to pay for the electricity from charging points with your contributions to the power grid. Even better, according to the dream, will be the end of the expensive annual insurance policy. For if cars drive themselves and no-one has their hands on the wheel then the responsibility must be at the wheels of the robot car makers. The day of the driver will have passed the only care we will have will be what will we watch and how we occupy ourselves.
Well that is the dream, now unfortunately for a little bit of reality. Drivers will have to keep their hands on the wheels of their autonomous vehicles for a little longer due to their evolving systems and because of the mix of manual and autonomous vehicles expected on our roads. It is a problem that the insurance industry thinks could get worse due to technological dependence.
After a certain time the vehicle will come to a stop wherever it is and that could be somewhere very dangerous
“There are some vehicles which at certain points will require a driver to take back control and if that driver doesn’t respond after a certain time the vehicle will come to a stop wherever it is and that could be somewhere very dangerous,” said Sarah Cordey of the Association of British Insurers.
“Certainly, we are keen to see the increased automated technology on the roads because it has exciting potential. But if there is a stage where it actually becomes more dangerous because it leaves drivers too disengaged from the driving task to be properly involved, then insurers might prefer that that stage is skipped, and we just go straight to full autonomy.”
Which would be a tremendous challenge to the way technology has been introduced to date because the infrastructure would have to be put in place, tried and tested before everyone could step into their shiny new robot cars.
There continues to be a worrying lack of clarity around how Automated Driving should be defined
Last year Matthew Avery, Director of Research for Thatcham Research which carries out safety testing on behalf of the insurance industry said: “By 2021, Automated Driving Systems on some new cars could allow motorway drivers to essentially become passengers in their own vehicles. However, there continues to be a worrying lack of clarity around how Automated Driving should be defined and crucially, the role of the driver when a car is in automated mode.
“Our position is that driving systems that rely on the driver to maintain safety are not recognised by the insurance industry as being automated.”
At a UK Government consultation on the issue, Avery said that discovering how an Automated Driving System must safely hand back control to the driver in certain scenarios is crucial. For example, in the event of a system failure the vehicle must be capable of carrying out a managed hand back to the driver or reach ‘safe harbour’ on its own in the event of an emergency.
Drivers take around 35 seconds to psychologically get used to driving again when control is handed back to them by an automated vehicle. The motoring equivalent of a rugby ‘hospital pass’
It is a topic exercising the insurance industry according to Cordey: “So, insurers are looking to vehicle manufacturers to address that by ensuring that a vehicle will first find itself a safe harbour or a safe place to stop before it becomes immobile. So, there’s an awful lot of details here that the insurers have really been getting into to try and help shape things for the future and make them as safe as possible.”
According to research by Professor Natasha Merat at the University of Leeds and Dr Dick de Waard of the University of Groningen’s Psychology Department drivers take around 35 seconds to psychologically get used to driving again when control is handed back to them by an automated vehicle. The motoring equivalent of a rugby ‘hospital pass’ where you get the ball just as you are lined up for a tackle.
A problem of tech dependence not exclusive to cars, world aviation authorities now insist that pilots carry out a minimum number of manual landings rather than using the autopilot. It has also been noted in the armed forces that operators are loathe to over-ride automated weapons systems through fear of being responsible for their actions.
It has also been noted in the armed forces that operators are loathe to over-ride automated weapons systems through fear of being responsible for their actions.
A buck passing that means that the combination of manual and automated traffic in the interim phase before complete automation presents a nightmare for drivers and insurers.
“Liability issues are a big one to sort out if a vehicle with a lot of smart technology on-board is involved in a collision with another vehicle,” said Cordey.
According to Mark Deem, a lawyer for Cooley the world’s largest legal practice which includes impressive technology household names among its clients, the next few years will legally be as tertiary as they are for vehicles.
“The law always looks for workable definitions of products, services and harms for which legal solutions and interventions are required but the speed of technological change and the measured pace of legal change means that legal definitions cannot be nailed down in transition.
Speed of technological change and the measured pace of legal change means that legal definitions cannot be nailed down in transition
“Problems will exist in the tertiary stage of development where legal solutions will be needed to deal with products at differing stages of automation, varying degrees of precision and in different environments. The question of responsibility will evolve with the technology.
So, what does this mean for the age of the autonomous vehicle, in charge without responsibility? Like the insurance industry?
Mark Deem see’s this an evolution, not only will the vehicle change so will our insurance.
“Once we are through that tertiary stage, we should see more fundamental and permanent shifts changes to deal with risk – perhaps a change in insurance where we see travelling in an automated vehicle as an extension of personal travel insurance, rather than belonging to the vehicle owner.”
