Complex Claims panel delves into ADAS, autonomous vehicle challenges
As vehicles advance toward autonomy, insurers will face tougher questions about accident responsibility, according to a panel discussion at the 2024 Complex Claims and Litigation Forum.
Does your car have a backup camera, collision warning system or even anti-lock brakes? Then guess what: You’re driving a vehicle equipped with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous features.
And the more autonomous our vehicles become, the greater the challenges for the insurance claims and litigation industry.
This intricate issue was the topic of a panel discussion Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2024, at the 2024 Complex Claims and Litigation Forum in Las Vegas.
Moderated by Karen Tucker, recovery team leader for Cincinnati Insurance, the four-person panel shed light on the impact that modern automotive technology is having on the insurance industry.
For now, that impact is almost exclusively confined to vehicles that have one or more advanced driver assistance systems (like the aforementioned backup cameras). However, fully autonomous, self-driving vehicles are currently in the production and testing phases.
When these modern-day machines finally hit the streets, they will be strictly used for commercial purposes in two primary industries: ride-sharing services and long-haul trucking. The former likely will be first out of the gate, but the latter probably won’t be far behind.
“The long-haul trucking [industry] is now in the advanced stages of testing autonomous vehicles and is going to come online pretty quickly,” said panelist Mike Stankard, managing director for the global insurance brokerage firm Aon plc. “I venture that someday down the road there will be single lanes dedicated exclusively to autonomous (long-haul) trucks.”
What about fully autonomous self-driving vehicles for everyday consumer use?
Stankard said that particular market won’t emerge for quite some time. Which means for the foreseeable future, the insurance industry only will have to deal with commercial-related claims.
And when those claims inevitably arrive, insurance companies will be forced to address new issues pertaining to accident responsibility.
“The questions insurer carriers will have to answer is, ‘Who is the insured? and ‘who owns that vehicle?’” said panelist Kenneth Williams, shareholder for the insurance defense legal firm Segal McCambridge. “The answers are going to define a lot for the future areas of claims investigations, litigation, coverages and exposure.”
Those areas are already murky when it comes to vehicles with ADAS that are involved in accidents. Specifically, determining fault in such accidents can create the kind of headaches that send claims adjusters reaching for extra-strength pain relievers.
“One challenge insurance companies face — especially as these vehicles evolve — is figuring out which party is actually liable,” said panelist Erin Erickson, managing partner for the Montana-based insurance defense firm Bohyer, Erickson, Beaudette & Tranel. “It could be the manufacturer, the car’s operator or the vehicle’s software manufacturer if there’s a software malfunction.”
While it’s not always easy to pinpoint blame in these types of accidents, Erickson says there is one tactic insurance companies can — and should — implement as part of their best practices.
“Beyond the make and model of the car, try to obtain the spec sheet so you know what advanced driver assistance systems are on that vehicle,” she said. “And one question you should ask is, ‘Was driver assist enabled?’
“All of this information that’s becoming more and more available can help on liability investigations to determine what really happened,” Erickson concluded.
Matt Jacob is a Las Vegas-area freelance journalist.
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