Driverless Cars Will Dramatically Reduce Insurance Premiums, Said Buffett

[Vlad Kovalenko + 115]

The question for driverless cars is when, not if. For Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, which owns Geico,  the question is: what does this mean for car insurance? According to him, driverless cars will drastically reduce auto insurance premiums if they turn out to be safer than conventional cars. “You want safer cars. Safer cars mean lower insurance. Safer driving means lower insurance costs,” said Buffett.

[LAOIL + 33]

I can see this happening for maybe 10-20 years. When one provider start reducing rates all others will follow it, once driverless cars are proven safer. 

[Adam Varga + 123]

I don’t believe him any word he says. It may be warranted, but if you think the insurance companies are going to drop their rates, you're "barking up the wrong tree"! They're one of the worse industries for continuous ripoffs!

[Selva + 252]

It will be a long time before driverless cars turn out to be safer, there are too many variables to account for to make the software faultless. But even than I doubt premiums will go down until at least 70-80% of the cars on the road are driver-less. We are a very long way away from that ever happening.

[BlackTortoise + 103]

 I hope self driving cars become a common reality sooner rather than later. I used to love to drive but now avoid it whenever possible. Too much traffic, impatient drivers and texting while driving makes driving a challenging experience. Yes, self-driving cars will have accidents. But the real question is at what rate compared to humans.
 

[Adam Varga + 123]

Nothing will reduce insurance rates, ever. Insurers will simply come up with a new rationale for why they have to raise rates.

[Rodent + 1,424]

18 hours ago, Vlad Kovalenko said:

The question for driverless cars is when, not if. For Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, which owns Geico,  the question is: what does this mean for car insurance? According to him, driverless cars will drastically reduce auto insurance premiums if they turn out to be safer than conventional cars. “You want safer cars. Safer cars mean lower insurance. Safer driving means lower insurance costs,” said Buffett.

Buffett is confused. Did he miss the multitude of accidents involving self-driving cars? Self-driving cars cannot save people from being idiots. Insurance rates will NOT go down--it will create a new breed of accidents as it eliminates others. 

[LAOIL + 33]

We are so not ready for thousands of driverless cars on the roads with sensors easily confused by things like concrete structures and pedestrians. It will be an accidents surge. This technology is at least a  decade away from us.