How insurance is driving the future of autonomous cars

In this episode of The Digital Lighthouse, host Zoe Cunningham speaks with David Williams, a senior executive and non-executive director with more than 30 years’ experience in insurance.

David previously worked at AXA Insurance UK, where he led work on connected and autonomous vehicles, including involvement in five government-backed consortia. He was also chair of the Association of British Insurers Motor Committee.

Zoe and David explore the future and present of driverless vehicles, and the role insurance plays in helping new technology reach the road safely.

David explains why many vehicles described as autonomous are still driver assistance systems, why insurance relies so heavily on data, and what happens when a new technology has no historic claims data to draw from.

They also discuss the UK’s role in supporting autonomous vehicle development, how data and machine learning have changed insurance, and why driverless cars are designed to avoid accidents rather than make moral judgements about human life.

Discover Why driverless cars are closer than many people think What different levels of vehicle autonomy really mean Why insurance is central to autonomous vehicle development How data has transformed risk assessment in insurance Why the UK could be well placed to support autonomous vehicle innovation Why the trolley problem is not the right way to think about driverless cars