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Insurance and liability will be the ultimate arbiter of safety claims. Does your company accept all legal liability for actions taken by your self-driving car?

• tialaramex 2y ago
  Waymo is a taxi company. As you'd expect the customer isn't driving, isn't necessarily licensed to drive, certainly isn't authorised to drive, so necessarily the customer is not liable. I'd actually anticipate that it makes sense in principle for them to self insure because that way they aren't paying a premium to a for-profit insurer and they have enough vehicles that the statistical risk evens out well enough. I believe that self-insurance† is still legal in the places where Waymo operates (I might be wrong). † Self insurance is a strategy where you can and will just pay out of pocket, this obviously isn't viable for all but the richest individuals but it makes sense for say, FedEx.
  • lokar 2y ago
    Not fedex, the drivers are contractors UPS is a better example
    • zamadatix 2y ago
      Not all FedEx drivers are contracted, not that using a contracted driver precludes using self-insurance for the vehicle anyways. https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2023/08/16/735581.htm#:~:text=The%20amount%20of%20self%2Dinsurance%20reserves%20FedEx%20sets%20aside%20to%20cover%20claims%20surpassed%20%245%20billion https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2023/08/16/73...
      • lokar 2y ago
        Yeah, some of them are staff. But the majority are contractors and own the trucks as well.
        • moffkalast 2y ago
          Ngl I'm still waiting for delivery trucks that are essentially just mobile sets of parcel delivery boxes that you could schedule to be at your address at completely arbitrary times, unlock the right compartment and collect the package. Then they just need to fill them up with a robot at the warehouse and off they go, zero human shenanigans in the process.