The House Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on House and Insurance recently held a hearing to consider the effects of the growing autonomous vehicle industry on U.S. insurance.
Representatives of various insurance agencies and related institutions were largely present to discuss data access and cybersecurity. Sam Geraci, a representative from the American Family Mutual Insurance Company, said cybersecurity was key to deciding what insurance policies would cost.
“At American Family, we believe customers should have unrestricted access to their vehicle’s operating data and the ability to share that data with third parties, such as their insurers. Vehicle operating data will play an essential role in developing rates and underwriting policies,” Geraci said.
Other representatives brought about its purpose in determining safety to passengers, but one raised the question about how data sharing will work in this new industry.
“Who will own and who will have access to the tremendous amount of pre-crash data that will be available in an autonomous vehicle?” Gillis said.
While autonomous vehicle legislation has, separately, been submitted to the current Congress in an attempt to address some questions surrounding the industry, it has thus far stalled in the Senate.