Adrian Flux launches UK’s first driverless car insurance policy

Adrian Flux says that it has launched the UK’s first personal driverless car insurance policy.

The policy is designed for consumers who may already have driverless features in their existing cars, such as self-parking, or who may be thinking of buying a new car with driverless or autopilot features.

As the UK continues to invest in driverless research, Gerry Bucke, general manager for Adrian Flux, said that the insurer wanted to help provide confidence and clarity around the ongoing debate of who could be liable for an accident involving a driverless car.

“We understand this driverless policy to be the first of its kind in the UK – and possibly the world,” he said.

“It’s a fantastic starting point for the insurance industry and the policy, like any other, will be updated as both the liability debate and driverless technology evolve.”

The new driverless policy has additional features over a standard car insurance policy such as policyholders being covered for loss or damage if updates or security patches for items like firewalls and journey planning systems are not successfully installed within 24 hours of the owner being notified by the manufacturer

They will also be covered if loss or damage is caused by a failure in the manual override or if the vehicle’s computer is hacked.

“More than half of new cars sold last year featured autonomous safety technology such as self-parking or ABS, which effectively either take control or take decisions on behalf of the driver,” said Bucke.

“And it’s only going to continue. Driverless technology will become increasingly common in our cars over the next few years. We want this policy to reflect this transition and evolution.

Mark Dugdale