Perceptions of the impacts that autonomous vehicles have on the insurance industry

Abstract

This dissertation was set out to research how the new technology innovation of automation will influence all players in the motor insurance market. The objective was to cause awareness and come up with ideas and solutions to solve the issues currently associated with autonomous vehicles. This was accomplished through online research, questionnaires to the general public and interviews with industry experts by keeping the original research questions in mind. It was found that although autonomous vehicles have been made known to the general public for over a decade now, a good amount of people in the questionnaire, still were not aware of this phenomenon. This may be linked to Malta’s size, culture and how we always implement technology at a later stage than other countries do. Furthermore, people along with insurers are very sceptical on what these vehicles have to offer and are unconvinced how they can be operated on our roads. Besides the doubt, many people had an overall positive impression of these vehicles and think that they could be beneficial for Malta’s traffic and driving problems. All three insurers were in agreement with their opinions throughout most of the interview questions. They believe that motor insurance should not drastically change since there will still be the need to transfer risk in relation to cyber/hacking risks and liability issues. European legislation in relation to the Motor Insurance Directive has been functioning very well and the concept of ensuring efficient compensation to the victim of an accident should remain the same. The insurers appeared to be fully aware that these vehicles are fast-approaching but still felt that they will be adopted in Malta in the far long run. Notwithstanding this, they still feel like they should prepare for self-driving cars by attending various conferences and invest in research or start-up manufacturers abroad since insurers are accepting the fact that Malta has very limited resources to fully engage in testing and research by themselves.