The Future Of Driving: Autonomous Cars And Their Impact On Auto Insurance Benefits

 The Future Of Driving: Autonomous Cars And Their Impact On Auto Insurance Benefits - In this blog, Wallenius Wilhelmsen Senior Analyst Erik Solum discusses the road ahead for the driverless car revolution, whether self-driving cars could provide solutions to today's biggest mobility challenges, and what this trend means for automotive OEMs and their supply chain management.

Consumer confidence is finally recovering post-Covid, with strong labor markets and low interest rates boosting vehicle sales. Admittedly, the semiconductor shortage has caused a blow to the sector that has lasted longer than expected, but global light vehicle (LV) sales are still expected to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2023.

The Future Of Driving: Autonomous Cars And Their Impact On Auto Insurance Benefits

Against this background, sustainability remains key for consumers and automotive OEMs, and as politicians strive to achieve climate goals, the shift from internal combustion engine vehicles to battery electric vehicles continues to grow. We may not be there yet, but the tipping point for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) is getting closer.

Autonomous Car And The Future Of Road Safety

What will happen to the LV industry as the market stabilizes and electrification gains momentum? The answer is autonomous cars.

Autonomous or self-driving cars are a real game changer for the automotive industry. Some OEMs say the transition to electrified cars was "kind of easy" by comparison.

It may take longer than expected to get them on the road, but look ahead 10 to 15 years and many still envision a fleet of autonomous buses and shuttles moving easily through urban areas to select stops. Ride-sharing services that send shared autonomous vehicles (AVs) to pick up multiple passengers on similar routes. Robot taxis drop off passengers at subway stops for their next journey.

In this landscape, some traditional car owners may decide they no longer need personal vehicles as shared mobility AVs meet their needs. More people would also have better access to mobility through more efficient cost sharing. But would this mean less congestion as the units in question maneuver more efficiently. Or would the roads be overcrowded?

Will Self Driving Cars Solve The Problem Of Traffic Congestion?

This will largely depend on public and private stakeholders investing in the infrastructure needed to enable Shared Autonomous Mobility (SAM). Some industry players argue that widespread self-driving cars won't be a reality until we adapt our roads to facilitate interaction with AVs, which would require extensive planning, spending and nationwide coordination. In fact, the question of whether SAM gains traction may depend on these infrastructure requirements.

Currently, however, this concern receives relatively little attention as companies, investors, inventors, and policymakers rightfully focus on issues related to AVs, such as safety.

Governments will certainly play an important role in shaping the new mobility landscape when it comes to safety issues. While OEMs may feel that regulations are too slow to keep up with the evolution of the space, for governments, consumer understanding remains key to policy making.

In Deloitte's survey of UK consumers, respondents were curious but wary of self-driving technology, with nearly half saying that government regulation and approval of their cars is an important factor in their trust in self-driving vehicles. The pandemic is also said to be playing a part, as other recent studies show that consumers may be a little reluctant to use public transport. In comparison, an electric self-driving device can be considered a safer alternative.

Autonomous Driving Disruption: Technology, Use Cases, And Opportunities

As OEMs partner or purchase self-driving software, as VW and Ford have done with Argo AI, autonomous car software services are expected to be a mainstay of automakers' future business, and predictions suggest a global autonomous car market is on the way. In 2030, the line will be worth $60 billion. According to VW, about 15 percent of its business will be shuttles or mobility as a service by 2030, indicating that this is an important area of ​​growth.

It remains to be seen what this could mean for automotive supply chains in the long run. In the near future, autonomous vehicles may result in less damage during transportation due to the safety and sensor technology introduced, which can reduce costs and time to market.

While traditional automakers and tech companies have invested billions of dollars to realize their vision of driverless cars, robot taxis remain elusive due to technical and regulatory hurdles that require a constant human presence, though that may soon change. VW certainly plans to test its ID Buzz AD1 (Autonomous Driving) test vehicle, a self-driving version of its upcoming ID Buzz electric minivan, on the streets of Munich. The production version will then be used in commercial mobility services, such as ride-hailing services, from 2025 onwards. According to Statista, the annual production level of robocars could reach 800,000 units worldwide by 2030.

So, could this mean a future where owning a car is unnecessary? By 2040, shared self-driving mobility in developed countries could account for 50 percent of all miles driven, according to projections. In China, which has the potential to become the world's largest market for autonomous vehicles, these cars could account for as much as 66% of passenger kilometers traveled, McKinsey reports. In addition to reducing traffic congestion, vehicle emissions may drop. Using more AVs, which make fewer mistakes than human drivers, could also reduce traffic fatalities, while real estate previously used for parking could be repurposed as commercial or residential real estate.

Google Patent Reveals How Self Driving Cars May Communicate

With the prospect of better, safer and more cost-effective mobility, there are certainly many reasons to be excited about self-driving cars. We may not see them on our roads for a few more years, but AVs are on their way. Autonomous vehicle (AV) technology is set to be the biggest disruptor the automotive industry has seen in the last century. While some argue that the age of AV is just around the corner, the consensus seems to be that Level 5 automation (i.e., true driverless cars with no steering wheel or gas and brake pedals) is a long way off.

Companies such as Alphabet (Waymo), General Motors, Uber and Baidu are currently investing billions of dollars in AV technology as they rush to stake a claim to the market. As of February 2018, 21 states in the United States have passed AV legislation, and 19 of them allow the testing of AVs on public roads. Nearly 60 cities around the world are running AV testing pilot programs. Unfortunately, there is a lot of news about accidents and deaths involving AVs, and consumer confidence in AV technology is not yet there.

Mass-market AVs are a long-term hope that promises to lower costs and increase safety, but in the meantime, the technology is more likely to be used for delivery, goods transfer and transportation services or ride-sharing.

Deliveries/handover: Rio Tinto currently has a fleet of autonomous trucks at its Pilbara iron ore mines in Western Australia. According to Rio Tinto, each autonomous truck worked an average of 1,000 additional hours in 2016 with a 15 percent lower load and unit cost than conventional trucks. The company plans to expand its vehicle fleet by more than 50 percent by 2019. .

What's The Status Of Self Driving Cars? There Has Been Progress, But Safety Questions Remain.

Shuttles/Ride Sharing: GM has announced plans for shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs) to be available as early as 2019. SAVs are much cheaper than self-driving cars, allowing people to pay only for each ride, rather than the vehicle itself, and increase mobility. 25% of our population who currently have limited mobility, such as children, the elderly and the disabled.

John Walker, transportation marketing manager for ride-sharing company Lyft, predicts that level 4 or 5 autonomy will be a reality in ten years. Lyft has created a Level 5 lab to design autonomous vehicles specifically for ride-sharing and has partnerships with Waymo, nuTonomy, Drive Ai and Jaguar Land Rover. There is already a 2% chance that an AV will pick up participating Lyft riders in Las Vegas.

Henrik Green, Volvo's senior vice president, says ten years is too far. He recently revealed that the next-generation Volvo XC90, which is expected to hit the market around 2021, will be able to transport sleeping passengers to their destination on limited roads (probably freeways and expressways). The company's Level 4 (high automation) suite of AV technology is called Highway Assist and is essentially an extension of the Pilot Assist features offered on current Volvo models. The Highway Assist package is an optional extra that costs four figures.

Contributing to the advancement of AV technology, solid-state LiDAR company Quanergy recently presented a revolutionary technology that is both unobtrusive and inexpensive at the Connected & Autonomous Vehicles 2018 conference. Although the company aims to shrink LiDAR sensor technology down to the size of a chip, the current prototype is about twice the size of a deck of playing cards, can be easily hidden under sheet metal, and costs about $200 a unit. This much smaller, cheaper and less obtrusive sensor is not as fragile as the mechanical LiDAR sensors in many test AVs today. This technology could revolutionize the current AV industry, allowing integration into today's vehicles at a fraction of the cost of existing clunky add-ons.

Self Driving Vehicles Drive Into Two Complex Ride Hailing Environments

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