Safety Issues with Uber

Background

• Uber is currently operating in 570 citiesworld wide 
• According to the WSJ, Uber has 160,000 drivers in the US (source: @Uber Touts Its Employment Opportunities)
• In the year of 2015, Uber completed its 1 billionth ride
•  In October 2016, it was reported that 40 million riders used the service in a single month and that each rider spent approximately $50 per month on the service.

How Uber protect Rider safety 

Before the trip

Getting a safe ride

Safe pickups

The Uber app automatically finds your location to provide door-to-door service. That means you stay safe and comfortable wherever you are until your driver arrives.

Open to everyone, everywhere

All ride requests are blindly matched with the closest available driver. So there is no discrimination based on race, gender, or destination.

Driver profiles

When you’re matched with a driver, you’ll see their name, license plate number, photo, and rating—so you know who’s picking you up ahead of time. And even after the trip, you’re able to contact your driver if you left something behind.

On Trip

Anonymous feedback

After every trip, you can rate the driver and provide anonymous feedback about your ride. We review all feedback because our goal is to make every ride a great experience.

24/7 support

Our support team is always ready to respond to any questions you may have about your trip and help you retrieve lost items.

Rapid response

Our specially-trained incident response teams are available around the clock to handle any urgent concerns that arise.

How Uber protect Driver safety 

Before the Trip

Picking up passengers

No anonymous pickups

All riders must create an account and provide their name, email address, and phone number before they can request a ride. So when you accept a request, you’ll know who you’re picking up and so will we.

Substitute phone numbers

In many locations around the world, Uber uses technology that anonymizes phone numbers to keep contact details confidential. So when you and your rider need to contact each other, your personal information stays private.

On Trip

Getting to the destination

In-app navigation

When riders enter their destination, you will automatically receive turn-by-turn directions in the app—so you can focus on getting there safely.

Always on the map

GPS data is logged for every trip so we know who you’re driving and where you’re going, which promotes accountability and encourages good behavior.

After the Trip

Always improving the Uber experience

No change, no hassle

Fares automatically charge the rider’s payment method on file, so for most trips you can avoid using cash altogether. But if a rider pays in cash, the app automatically issues credit so you’ll never have to make change.

Driver feedback

You rate your rider after every trip. We review those ratings to ensure that everyone you pick up is as respectful as you are. Riders reported to violate our terms of service may be prevented from using Uber.

24/7 support

Our support team is always ready to respond to any questions you may have about your driving experience.

Additional Video 

Reference

https://www.uber.com/ride/safety/

https://www.uber.com/drive/safety/

Kokalitcheva, K. (2016, October 20). Uber Now Has 40 Million Monthly Riders Worldwide. Retrieved April 10, 2017, from http://fortune.com/2016/10/20/uber-app-riders/

MacMillan, D. (2015, January 25). Uber Touts Its Employment Opportunities. Retrieved April 10, 2017, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-touts-its-employment-opportunities-1422229862

Watch TV for Free Legally

Nowadays, people are used to watch TV in two ways: online or via cable.  Generally speaking, watching TV online is not doable without paying for it. Services like Sling TV or the new Youtube TV are more closed to the cable model than anything else. Thus, the customer will end up paying a monthly fee to watch TV; however, there is a third option: broadcast TV. Broadcasting TV is the oldest form of watching TV. It was invented in the 20s, and it is a good way to watch TV for free. In order to to so, we will need to follow 4 steps.

1. Search for Signal
2. Acquire an Antenna
3. Install the Antenna
4. Hook you TV to the Antenna

Search for Signal 

Before searching for a signal, it is necessary to understand a little bit how broadcasting TV works. 

 

Since we completely depend on the quality of the signal transmitted to the region where we want to watch TV, we need to make sure that there is a good signal in the region. In order to find a good signal, we should look for websites that can provide this information. Federal Communications Commission and Channelmaster are websites that provide a tool to search for signal strength in the region using a ZIP code. Make sure that there enough enough channels and that the quality of the signal is good enough before moving to step 2.  

Aquire an Antenna

Well, I said to watch TV for free, but that does not mean that there will be no setup cost. Antenna is the most important component to watch TV for free after the knowledge of good signal in your region. This piece of equipment can be bought for $20 in amazon, so it is not a high cost to watch TV. If you do not want to spend money, it is also possible to make your own antenna ( I have not tried this method by myself yet).

Install and Hook Up Antenna to the TV

Installing the antenna can be tricky because it can directly affect the quality of the signal received. The best way to do it, it to avoid pointing the antenna to obstacles such as houses, mountains or anything that can create interference. Another recommendation, is to install the antenna as high as possible to get a clear signal. If you know that your place is supposed to have a good signal, but it is not working, try to move the antenna to different directions. It may sound stupid, but it works. Afterwards, just plug the antenna cable to the TV. You may need that everything is done, but there is more one step to start watch TV for free: do a scan for channels in your TV.  TV's needs to be update frequently when a new antenna is installed to update the channel number and the quality of the signal. 

IoT Security: DDoS Attacks

When it comes to the Internet of Things, security is undoubtedly a hot issue. As more and more devices become linked to the network, hackers have countless opportunities to use them for their own personal gain. However, arguably one of the biggest threats comes in the form of DDoS attacks—the largest in recent history occurring about half a year ago.

Background

On October 21, 2016, a Mirai botnet used the Internet of Things to conduct a giant DDoS attack. A Mirai botnet is essentially a piece of malware that scans the internet for IoT devices that still have their default usernames and passwords. The botnet then takes control of these IoT devices and uses them to overload servers with arbitrary requests. In this particular attack, a hacker launched two separate assaults on Dyn, a company which manages a DNS service. The first attack began early in the morning, and an abnormally large amount of traffic began to flood into Dyn’s DNS platform in Asia, South America, Eastern Europe, and the western United States. However, the attack ended up changing course and began to target the eastern United States (Statt).

As UDP and TCP packets flooded in from a plethora of IoT devices, it became almost impossible to identify real traffic from attack traffic. This is a common issue when it comes to defending against DDoS attacks, and is what leads to all requests ultimately being rejected; therefore, legitimate users are denied service. In turn, these users begin to refresh their caches, which makes the increase in traffic even worse. All of these factors caused Dyn to have difficulty combatting the attack. Unfortunately, just as Dyn was managing to get things under control, a second attack was launched. It was very similar to the first and utilized all the same protocols, leading it to be stomped out more quickly. However, small TCP attacks persisted throughout the following days (Dyn).


These are the areas most affected by the 2016 attack

The Impact

Giant DDoS attacks such as these have an extreme impact on users and companies alike. While users are denied service to websites they want or need access to, companies lose money at an exponential rate. Therefore, this issue poses a huge risk to the public, and there could be catastrophic consequences in the future.

In this particular DDoS attack, many large companies were affected. Twitter, Etsy, Vox, Spotify, Airbnb, Netflix, the New York Times, Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr, PayPal, Verizon, EA, Soundcloud, Business Insider, and the Playstation Network. All of these companies rely on legitimate customer traffic to drive their revenues, so even a short outage can have disastrous effects. According to a study conducted by the Ponemon Institute, a DDoS attack can cause larges-scale companies to lose between $1-$100,000 per minute of downtime. This is a broad window; however, by averaging that range out to $50,000/minute, and taking into account that this attack lasted roughly six hours, it's possible that such an outage could have caused companies up to $18,000,000 in damages. DDoS attacks not only cause a massive loss of customer traffic, but also a loss of worker productivity--this forces companies to bleed money. Additionally, the attacks usually cause companies to take on costs associated with hardware and software replacements. (Lafrance).




A few of the companies affected by the 2016 attack

How to Mitigate These Attacks

As the Internet of Things continues to grow, the internet becomes increasingly more vulnerable to DDoS attacks like the one Dyn experienced last year. According to Anthony Grieco, the senior director of the security and trust organization at Cisco, one proposed solution for manufacturers is to update best practices concerning hardening routers against DDoS traffic. This would help ensure that, on a hardware level, routers would be better prepared to prevent such high-traffic attacks (Thielman).

Additionally, federal regulators could step in and set minimum security standards for IoT devices. These potential regulations could mandate that manufacturers assign unique username/password combinations on their devices, instead of having simple defaults. However, aside from taking preventative measures, reactive approaches are also important. DNS providers such as Dyn can hire third parties to clean traffic of malicious requests before they even reach their target. Furthermore, the malicious traffic can be “blackholed”, which means that it would be directed to a destination that would just throw the request away.

On an individual level, there are also things that we can all do to help combat these harmful breaches of security. For instance, we can protect our IoT devices by turning off remote access, so that outsiders cannot log in. Furthermore, we can change the usernames and passwords on these devices ourselves, which will make them more difficult to access (Ducklin).

Sources

Beal, Vangie. "The 7 Layers of the OSI Model." Webopedia. N.p., 02 Sept. 2016. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.

Ducklin, Paul. "Dyn DDoS – What Can We Do Right Now to Help Prevent the next Attack?"Naked Security. N.p., 24 Oct. 2016. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.

Hilton, Scott. "Dyn Analysis Summary Of Friday October 21 Attack." Dyn Content Hub. N.p., 26 Oct. 2016. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.

Lafrance, Adrienne. "How Much Will Today’s Internet Outage Cost?" The Atlantic. The Atlantic, 21 Oct. 2016. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.

Statt, Nick. "How an Army of Vulnerable Gadgets Took down the Web Today." The Verge. N.p., 21 Oct. 2016. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.

Thielman, Sam. "Can We Secure the Internet of Things in Time to Prevent Another Cyber-attack?" The Guardian. The Guardian, 25 Oct. 2016. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.

Medical Marijuana Technologies

Medical Marijuana Technologies
Currently the social view point of medicinal and recreational marijuana has begun to become more socially accepted and the medicinal properties have been at the forefront of the social change. Over the last few years 28 states have passed legislation allowing the use of medical marijuana to registered patients. Of the 28 states where medicinal cannabis use is allowed, 8 of the states have enacted legislation allowing the use of recreational cannabis.

Currently there are 41 states that have either passed medical marijuana use or have both medical and recreational uses. [Dr. S.]

Medical Marijuana Industry

Over the past few years the medical and recreational cannabis industry has exploded and has been very beneficial for the US economy. States like Colorado, Washington, and Oregon have come to rely on the tax and licensing revenue generated from the recreational marijuana industry to fill gaps in their budgets.

Retail shops in Colorado sold more than $1.3 billion in legal marijuana in 2016. This was a 30% increase from the prior-year period, when legal cannabis sales fell just shy of the $1 billion mark. During 2016 recreational marijuana sales in Colorado totaled $875 million and the remainder coming from the medical side of the equation. The reason for the lopsided total is the difference in taxation between medical and recreational. Medical pot is only taxed at 2.9% in Colorado whereas recreational marijuana bears a 17.9% tax. The revenue from these sales have been very beneficial for Colorado’s economy and has contributed over $40 million in funding for schools.

Emerging Medical Marijuana Technologies

Technology is rapidly changing throughout all levels of the cannabis industry. Whether it is working towards improvements on the agriculture side or improving the safety of consumption. New technology is being used to solve some challenging issues in this new industry and has helped progress the medicinal properties derived from the plant.

An article from Forbes has helped shed light on some of the new technologies being used throughout the industry. Some emerging companies involved in the expansion of the industry are listed below.

Flowhub is a point of sale software designed to help dispensaries track where their cannabis was cultivated and if any pesticides were used during the growing phase. The software protects the health and well being of the consumers by tracking the stages of cultivation and if any issues are discovered from a plant batch the products are recalled and pulled from the shelf. This technology helps keep customers safe and gives consumers a piece of mind that black market cannabis cannot provide.

PotBotics is a start-up developing EEG brain scan technology that allows for doctors to recommend specific strains of medical marijuana based on the patient results. This technology allows for patients to educate themselves about specific strains relating to their specific needs and ailments. This technology has given confidence to patients when choosing the desired medication and has helped give patients a clear understanding of the medicinal properties.

Storz & Brickel is a German vaporizing company that has been producing medical vaporizers since 1998. Their most desirable medical vaporizer is their Volcano Vaporizer which allows patients to safely consume cannabis without the harmful effects of butane. This technology allows for patients to sync their smartphones to the vaporizer so they can vaporize at the appropriate temperature on the go. 

Future Industry Trends

The medical marijuana industry has a very bright future ahead and when looking at the success of the market in Colorado state legislation can use their system as a blueprint. New technologies have provided the industry with a safer more transparent business model. With the emergence of big data cannabis companies can utilize these technologies to capture and predict patient demographics. The new legal regulations have invoked interest, investment, and tech development throughout the industry and our society has begun to embrace this emerging industry.

Links

• Cannabis Technology News
• 2017 Cannabis Technology Innovations
• 3 TED Talks:

Here is one of the Ted Talks: The surprising story of medical marijuana and pediatric epilepsy. Entrepreneur Josh Stanley and his brothers developed a non-psychotropic strain of marijuana that is radically reducing seizures for pediatric epilepsy patients in Colorado. In this fascinating talk, Stanley details the roadblocks patients and their families face when accessing this treatment and argues that we should change our national perspective on medicinal cannabis to start saving lives. If you recently saw the John Oliver episode about State's legal use medical marijuana going up against federal laws that deem it illegal, you can understand the dilemma faced by people who really need this drug.

Sources

• Glasner, Joanna. "Startups Downplay Tobacco as They Talk Up cannabis." TechCrunch. TechCrunch, 23 Mar. 2017. Web. 04 Apr. 2017. 
• "Industry Overview." Medical Marijuana, Inc. (OTC: MJNA). N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2017. 
• Borchardt, Debra. "The Current State of Cannabis Technology." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 04 Apr. 2016. Web. 04 Apr. 2017. 
• "Cannabis Technology News." 420 Intel. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2017.

The American Way of Driving is Over

This was cited in Nicole and Ally's briefing, but thought I'd add to the conversation with a few other posts, both in Wired.  In fact, if you search "tesla" or "autonomous cars", you'll find some interesting articles.

In the article, The American Way of Driving is Over, it begins:

For decades, the car has been the all-American signifier of who you are, a declaration of independence, a place where you are master.  Now American innovation is leaving this tradition in the dust. Ride ­hailing, self driving, data mining: Technology is taking the wheel. Enjoy the ride.

It then goes on to list 5 Trends in 2017, which I list below (also check out the links):

1. Self-driving cars will be everywhere
There are honest-to-goodness self-driving Ubers ferrying passengers in Pittsburgh; Baidu’s fleet of autonomous electric taxis is zipping around Wuzhen, China; and commuters in England and Sweden will start whizzing along the highways in Volvo carbots.

2. You will be tracked
Insurance companies will use smart dashcams and tracking devices to adjust your rates. And now that electric vehicles pose an existential threat to gas taxes, state governments will experiment with mileage-­based taxation.

3. Power trains get a power-up
Expect 15 pure electric models to hit the US market this year, including the modestly priced and longer-ranged Chevy Bolt and Tesla Model 3.

4. Public transit will team up with startups
Last fall, the bedroom community of Summit, New Jersey, launched an Uber pilot program offering parking-­pass holders free rides to a nearby train station. We’ll see more partnershipsbetween ride-sharing services and public transportation.

5. Robotrucks hit the highway
Self-driving trucks outfitted by Otto—a startup Uber acquired last year—are making deliveries. The first?  But truckers won’t be totally out of work yet; Otto’s rigs can self-drive only on the highway.


And then there's this:  Mercedes Promises Self-Driving Taxis in Just Three Years

The German giant is just the latest to make this kind of pledge. Ford and BMW aim to do the same thing by 2021. General Motors and Google’s Waymo are eyeing a similar timeframe without committing to a specific date. Meanwhile, Uber has been shuttling passengers around Pittsburgh in self-driving cars since September (with humans up front to monitor the system).

In this article is a video of a legally blind man driving Googele's Waymo, convincing them that are ready to join the competition.

I know there is freedom in having your own car and going when are where you please, except for the cost of the car, the insurance, traffic, texting, accidents, court fees, insurance price jumps, and finding a place to park.  If you could get anywhere you wanted without all that, and faster than you could on your own, would you still want a car?  Bigger cities in the U.S. for now, but not for long.

Computer Asks "How's My Driving?"

Self-driving cars are quickly becoming a reality and soon they will change many industries in the world. Autonomous vehicles are virtually identical to the modern vehicles on the road today but with a few differences. These cars are built with no steering wheels or pedals to make the car stop or go. The outside of the self-driving car is equipped with sensors that detect surrounding vehicles and other obstacles such as road conditions, cyclists, and pedestrians. The software in the car uses the data to make decisions the speed driving down the road.

A form of autopilot helps drive these cars to their destinations safely and efficiently. One of the biggest innovative car companies, Tesla Inc., has made progress in their development of autopilot technology in their cars. The company is updating the existing autonomous software in their current Model S and Model X vehicles. the update allows the car to change lanes on its own just by using the turn signal. Other advanced capabilities include driving at 80 mph and passing slower vehicles on the road. CEO Elon Musk believes that one day he can give all his cars full autonomy. Many industries will be affected by the adoption of the driverless car.

The following video explains Ford's attempt into making a self-driving car, and the future they envision for the state of Michigan. CEO Bill Ford Jr. talks about the way these cars will affect other industries int he economy.


The auto industry is affected heavily by the disruptive introduction of driverless cars. Trends have shown that consumers, while still skeptical about the nature of driverless cars, are interested in the concept overall. a survey conducted by Business Insider Intelligence reports that 64% of people are interested in being in a car with Self-driving features. The same survey showed that 20% of those surveyed are on the fence about the concept. Lastly, 17% of those surveyed showed no interest in being in an autonomous vehicle. People are showing that they are ready to get into a car and not be behind a wheel. This takes away all liability when accidents on the road happen. however, in the event that one does happen the liability has to go somewhere.



Auto insurance cost will start to plummet when humans are taken out of the vehicular accident equation. it is reported by the National Highway Traffic safety Administration that 94% of all crashes in America are caused be human error. By eliminating the humans from the equation, crashes will reduce thus reducing insurance rates. USA Today reports that car accidents will drop by 80% by 2040. When an accident does occur, the fault then will shift to the car manufacturers, hardware and software developers. By reducing the fault on car owners, car insurance will be purchased in much leaner packages. The dangers of the outside world will be gone due to the technology, but compromising the internal functions becomes a new threat.

Imagine your driverless car is coasting along the road going eighty on the I-10 when suddenly your car pulls over to the side without the owner giving the order. Once it pulls over a message pops up saying you need to pay "X" amount of money to us to regain control of your vehicle. Congratulations, you have just been a victim of ransomware, a software where payment must go to the hacker to access the device that was hijacked. In the past, cars have been taken over by similar attacks and have been caused to either crash or become disabled. The sophistication of autonomous vehicles gives incentives to hackers to try and seize control of owners' cars. Car manufacturers are not going to many lengths in terms of cyber security on these cars. This means when self-driving cars enter the mass market, its open season for black hat hackers to gain control over these cars. manufacturers cannot allow such a big vulnerability to slip into the open market. I believe that cyber security should be the main focus after the technology is in place.



The future is speeding towards us in the form of these autonomous cars. Companies are trying their best to come up with the best designs whether they be aesthetical, technical, and reliable. The autopilot will help riders reach their destination safely and be able to make tough road decisions with ease. Consumers are eager to climb into these cars and experience low-risk, high-speed driving with virtually no risk of crashing. Customers are also awaiting a future where auto insurance prices will be greatly reduced. One needs to take the good with the bad and hopefully manufacturers solve the cyber security problems so that car owners can sit back and possibly relax with a beverage that currently cannot be consumed in a vehicle.

Sources:
Wired (2017).  Tesla Finally Makes Its New Autopilot A Good One, 3/29/17.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-fully-autonomous-car-update-2017-2

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/13/autonomous-cars-self-driving-hack-mikko-hypponen-sxsw

Autonomous Automobiles

Alli Rakes and Nicole Sale

Evolution of the Autonomous Car

A nationwide competition of autonomous vehicle testing centers lead to the US Department of Transportation choosing nine states to be the “proving grounds” for self-driving cars. These nine states are Pennsylvania, Texas, Maryland, Michigan, California (which has two sites), Iowa, Wisconsin, Florida, and North Carolina. Tech companies are automakers will compare data and relay the information to the government as they test their vehicles in everyday road conditions. 

Source: http://www.theverge.com/2017/1/23/14357564/dot-self-driving-car-testing-sites-nine-states

Pros of Autonomous Vehicles

The technology in autonomous cars would take a substantial amount of danger out of driving. 81% of car crashes are a result of human error. Unlike humans, a computer will not get distracted while driving. Computers decrease risk because they are specifically programmed perform a certain task. Humans, on the other hand, have other concerns while they are driving and can easily lose focus on the road. Human drivers come at a very high cost. The U.S. Department of Transportation states that, “there is a dollar value to every individual's’ life ($9.2 million) Therefore, there would be a significant cost savings in many different venues like insurance costs and healthcare costs associated with accident recovery alone,” (Top 20 Pros and Cons Associated With Self-Driving Cars, 2017). The use of technology in vehicles can even lead to a boost in the economy. If autonomous cars can save lives, then they are a positive economic factor. Time is also a growing cost in the present day. Autonomous cars would allow people to get back time that they would normally lose while driving. Saving time can directly correlate to saving money in a business sense. If every employee in an office were able to get back an hour of their day everyday, the company could be much more efficient and much more profitable. Another way autonomous cars can reduce the cost of lost time is the possibility of having higher speed limits. If all vehicles on the road were autonomous, the roads would be significantly safer to the point where higher speed limits could be considered. People would then be able to reach their destinations faster and get back previously lost time. 


Source: http://www.autoinsurancecenter.com/top-20-pros-and-cons-associated-with-self-driving-cars.htm

Cons of Autonomous Vehicles 

While the technology and development in autonomous cars presents a great amount of opportunity to change the automobile industry, it also presents many challenges. The aim of autonomous car engineers and manufacturers is to create a safer environment on the roads, but how feasible and realistic is this? In order for consumers to be able to utilize an autonomous car, they will require an education on how to use it according to Teletrac. Users may not be actually be performing the actual driving anymore, however they will still need to maintain some knowledge on it’s proper use and it’s various safety features. This new technology that is being presented to the marketplace also comes with a rather high price tag. Many are speculating if the average American will be able to obtain this type of technology. Yet another challenge that autonomous cars presents is the transition into incorporating these cars onto roads and the rate of consumer adoption. When autonomous cars are on the road alongside traditional manually operated cars, the interaction with human drivers may present some danger and accidents may still occur. In order for autonomous cars to successfully achieve their goal of increasing safety on roads and decreasing the amount of accidents, they will need to be widely adopted by society, however the high price tag of typically more than $100,000 makes this seem unrealistic. Autonomous car engineers and manufacturers claim that their main goal is to increase safety with these vehicles, however the amount of technology used in these cars could potentially make them more susceptible to security breaches and hackers. If a hacker was to hack into the system of an autonomous car and hijack it they could turn the vehicle into a weapon that could put many lives at risk on the road. Various weather conditions could also prove to be a major obstacle in ensuring safety to consumers who use autonomous cars. These vehicles would need to be able to operate at a high level of safety in all weather conditions. This level of safety seems unrealistic due to the fact that heavy rain can damage laser sensors mounted on the car’s roof which may disable the car from performing its various functions. 

This groundbreaking technology has surely created jobs in engineering and manufacturing, however the effect that these vehicles will have on other jobs and the economy as a whole is unclear. A major downside that autonomous cars presents is the possibility to eliminate the need for various jobs. If society makes the transition over to relying heavily on autonomous cars, this could eliminate the need for jobs primarily in freight transportation and public transportation (i.e. taxis, uber drivers, etc.), which could have a negative effect on unemployment rates and the economy as a whole. This could also reduce or eliminate the need for driving schools due to the fact that there will be less of a need to educate people how to drive. In addition to this, the transition over to these cars will have a negative effect on the oil and gas industry due to the fact that the majority of these cars would be electric. 


Source: http://www.autoinsurancecenter.com/top-20-pros-and-cons-associated-with-self-driving-cars.htm 

How Will Autonomous Vehicles Affect Car Insurance?
The transition and adoption of autonomous cars presents a controversy when it comes to auto insurance. Currently, individuals receive insurance rates based on driver attributes and driving records. In addition to this, insurance companies have been collecting data from smart dashboards in current automobile models in order to set appropriate insurance rates to individuals. So what happens when individuals are no longer actually driving their cars anymore? Will there even be a need for an insurance policy? Warren Buffet, the current owner of Geico a major car insurance provider, remarked that “if the day comes when a significant portion of the cars on the road are autonomous, it will hurt Geico’s business very significantly”. A driverless car will begin to shift the liability from car owners to automakers. Rick Gorvett is the staff actuary for the Casualty Actuarial Society, which is a trade group that analyzes risks presented to insurance firms. Gorvett says that “autonomous vehicles will help reduce the human error that is the cause of the vast majority (90 percent or more) of accidents”. This means that yes, the rate of accidents may be reduced, however the likelihood of these accidents being caused by human error is much smaller, meaning that it will be due to machine defect or fault. Because of this, court cases will be much more controversial in terms of deciding who is at fault for an accident as well. For now, there is no formal adjustment to insurance policies and fault is currently determined on a case-by-case basis, however if the world shifts over to driverless cars there will need to be more defined lines when it comes to accidents that involve autonomous cars.
Source: http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2017/04/03/522222975/self-driving-cars-raise-questions-about-who-carries-insurance

Other Links:

Wired (2017).  Let's Face it the American Way of Driving is Over.


Videos: