Driverless Cars Making Growing Disruption

There are a growing number of news stories on the growth of the development of driverless cars. There was a story in the Wall Street Journal (link here) about Google's driverless car. The main focus of the article was how the vehicle is now being tested in urban areas like Mountain View California. Another article from USA Today by Chris Woodyard (link here) discusses the Milken Institute's predictions about driverless cars. It mentions how car manufacturers are planning on having driverless cars by 2020. Assuming these vehicles get to mass market, the disruption could be enormous.

During testing of the Google vehicle, there have been a total of 2 accidents after driving over 700,000 miles with both accidents happening when someone was behind the wheel. If these numbers continue, you can best believe insurance rates will change. The Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Kevin Vincent even speaks about the increased road safety as a result from having these cars on the road. Insurance companies are probably working on the models now. At least they should be.

Another item in the stories is the idea of having less vehicles. That might be a little worrisome for dealers, but only in the long term. Short term sales would still cover the loss of total vehicles on the market.