Someone takes their eyes off the road for a moment, forgets to look before accelerating, doesn't notice a red light, gets distracted by the kids in the backseat — these things happen, and if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, they can easily lead to an accident.

AI is far less vulnerable to these types of problems. A self-driving vehicle always checks all directions for oncoming traffic, always has its “eyes” on the road, and doesn't get distracted (the big one). With these issues solved, the self-driving car can safely head on its way, while passengers are free to relax or get started on their work.

Expect some bumps in the road

Not all is perfect in AI-land, though. There are situations AI can't easily “think” through, presenting head-scratching challenges to engineers. These tricky situations tend to have one thing in common: they present unexpected circumstances to the self-driving AI.

First and maybe most dangerous is reckless drivers. Unexpected behavior from other (human) drivers on the road may throw AI for a loop, and it's difficult to program for every possible poor choice other drivers might make. For example, if someone passes in a no-passing zone and narrowly misses oncoming traffic, how should the self-driving vehicle respond?

Humans recognize these situations and can adjust accordingly, and it's likely that AI will eventually recognize them as well, but it may take time, since the self-driving vehicles need to be programmed to recognize every possible permutation of these scenarios.

There's also uncertainty around human oversight:

• Should self-driving cars be required to have passengers capable of taking over in dangerous situations, or should we trust that a computer can react faster and make a better call than a human driver?
• Could a human driver trying to take over actually slow down all possible reactions and make the situation worse?
• And if people are expected to cover for AI in tricky situations, should they be held liable if they don't?

Fault may be tricky to place — as it always has been

All these unknowns are why it's also up in the air as to who — or what — would get blame in these situations. But this isn't exactly a new phenomenon. Determining fault in an accident has always been complicated, and autonomous vehicles won't change that.

“With regards to the fault of an accident, even today insurance companies fight tooth and nail to discover the fault of the accident,” says Kevin Courtright, licensed insurance expert with The General Auto Insurance. “Different states have different laws to not only assign fault in the accident but also to determine what percentage of fault each party should assume. This is done in an effort to fairly treat both parties. If it is determined that the accident was only 65% [the fault] of driver A, why should he or she need to cover 100% of the damage to driver B and his car?”

It's possible that insurers could work out a similar, percent-based system to assign fault when AI enters the mix, though future legislation could force another solution altogether. Maybe all self-driving cars will end up with little airplane-type black boxes to record everything leading up to an accident.

There's an exciting future ahead

Ultimately, there are a lot of questions still unanswered about self-driving cars, safety practices, and insurance claims. And the transition to automated transportation will likely be a little touch-and-go for this very reason. Many of these questions will have to be figured out along the way, and many more are sure to pop up in the process.

We want to live like the Jetsons — reading a book, watching a TV show, or taking a nap on our way to work. But we haven't even discovered all the baggage that autonomous vehicles will bring with them.

There's little doubt that as the technology is perfected, many of the safety concerns surrounding autonomous cars will be quelled. The next big problem will be to determine how damages will be covered. So if you're in the insurance industry, this is definitely the space to watch right now.

How these scenarios play out on the road will have far-reaching consequences for how insurance claims are handled in the future.

Parker O'Very ([email protected]) is a digital journalist who writes about automation, insurance technology and consumer tech.