Insurers ask: Who pays when self-driving vehicles crash?

Self-driving technology could make cars safer and reduce manufacturers’ liability, which are motivating factors for research, although it’s unclear exactly how much safer. Insurers have billions of miles of data on human drivers but far less for autonomous fleets, experts say. — Car vector created by rawpixel.com - www.freepik.com

The advent of self-driving cars is raising questions in the insurance sector about who should pay when the vehicles crash and how insurers will set equitable rates.

When cars can operate themselves, the central question will be whether accidents are the manufacturer’s responsibility and therefore covered by product liability insurance, or whether the fault would lie with the driver and be covered by personal auto insurance.