Autonomous vehicle insurers fear nuclear verdicts despite safer roads

Driverless cars injure fewer people than human drivers, but a senior underwriter behind Uber's autonomous vehicle insurance program says a US jury may not care.

On September 30, Skyward Group said it would take ibott's autonomous vehicle coverage into the US primary market, writing risks shared by vehicle manufacturers, autonomous driving system developers and fleet operators.

Apollo's ibott unit also underwrites the Autonomous Vehicle Insurance Program (AVIP), a liability facility built with Marsh Risk for companies on Uber's autonomous platform.

In the UK, Uber and British AI firm Wayve have launched London's first robotaxi service for paying passengers, the first real-world test of the country's new autonomous vehicle liability rules.

"Autonomous vehicle regulation and certainly insurance regulation is not keeping up with the speed of technology," Moore said.