“Motoring of the future” - a report by the Transport Select Committee
On 6th March 2015, the influential Transport Select Committee (TSC) published its report on “motoring of the future”. This was the culmination of taking extensive written and oral evidence from a wide range of interested stakeholders. Of particular interest to insurers was reference to the ongoing debate around driverless cars, telematics, “big data” and liability for accidents in the future world of autonomous vehicles.
The TSC set out its findings as follows:
“Motoring is being transformed by new materials, new fuels and information technology. However, the Government must act if people and businesses in the UK are to obtain the full benefit of this ongoing automotive revolution”.
The TSC concluded that the Department for Transport (DfT) has yet to set out a comprehensive strategy to link the introduction of new automotive technology to the achievement of its policy goals. An over-arching and co-ordinated strategy is required to:
Road safety – when giving evidence to the committee, the Minister Claire Perry MP confirmed that where the evidence and costs benefits were clear, the Government would mandate the introduction of safety requirements on vehicles. Equally, policy makers will need to be alert to the possibility of unintended consequences such as changes in behaviour that lead to drivers becoming too dependent on technology and not being alert enough to take control of a vehicle when they need to.
The Government also needs to be alive to the subject of cyber-attack. Manufacturers and Government must work together to produce appropriate cyber-security strategies to prepare for that possibility.
Autonomous vehicles – the TSC concluded that “The DfT should identify technologies whose introduction needs to be accelerated and devise a range of fiscal incentives to increase their rate of adoption”. This could include mandating certain technologies on cars built after a certain date, or providing scrappage incentives to clear old vehicle stock off the roads. The DfT should also take account of the efficiency and effectiveness of these measures when delivering change. Of note was the TSC’s assertion that “the DfT should prepare for a transition period when manual, semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicles are all running together on UK roads…. It is also important that the DfT clarifies how liabilities will be apportioned in such circumstances”.
Telematics – The TSC urged the DfT to “work with representatives from the whole of the insurance industry and others who hold data on driving – for example, motor manufacturers, manufacturers of satellite navigation systems and fleet owners to see what it might make of anonymised data from vehicles and how this can be combined with existing information from the Highways Agency to inform policy.” However, the TSC do recognise certain pitfalls in this. For example, they flagged that telematics data from insurers may be drawn from self-selecting groups of drivers which may then skew conclusions.
Data governance – The TSC looked at the vexed issue of data governance and as one witness succinctly put it “the connected car of the future works on data and who owns that data and to what use it is put is an important part of the debate on the future of motoring”.
As Keoghs has previously reported, it is of little surprise that the likes of Google and Apple are now showing interest in autonomous or driverless cars. The data opportunities are key and we could well envisage in 10 or 15 years’ time a dislocation of the current vehicle manufacturing market. The TSC importantly concluded that “the DfT must ask the Data Commissioner to review the current rules and guidance on access to fleet and driver information and the rights of drivers and other interested parties to access vehicle data and to publish updated guidelines on the collection, access and use of vehicle data”.
The TSC’s key point is that Government must move from a currently well-intentioned but somewhat disjointed approach to roads policy, to create an over-arching and co-ordinated strategy that delivers key objectives including reduced fatalities and reduced accidents as well as promoting the UK economy through the innovation of driverless cars.
As discussed in last month’s client alert on driverless cars, and our blog of the 4th February, the insurance industry has a key role to play in this rapidly emerging policy and technological area and can support and influence Government in its decision making. There is no question that this has “game changing” potential. As technology develops, we can envisage changes in the model of car ownership, a dislocation of current vehicle manufacturers as new entrants come into the market and a change in the insurance and claims supply chain.
Keoghs continues to engage with the DfT in this important policy area and will keep clients updated as this work continues.
Steve Thomas
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