According to Chevin Fleet Solutions, some of the earliest adopters of driverless cars will be the fleet industry as it seeks to minimise risk.
Chevin managing director Ashley Sowerby has said that the pressure for fleets to acquire portfolios of driverless vehicles will become overwhelming if the technology proves itself in reducing at-fault accidents — a drain on any fleet management business in terms of compensation claims.
With the car market set to change rapidly over the next few years as new technology breaks through, you should regularly check that you have adequate levels of insurance to cover your stock. In addition to your general motor trade insurance and road risks insurance, you may also want to consider upgrading to a combined motor trade insurance policy, which protects the facilities as well as the contents of your site.
Mr Sowerby expanded on his statements: “Driverless cars represent potentially the biggest revolution in personal transportation that we have seen since the invention of the car itself.
“With Volvo starting to undertake trials in London next year and other studies underway in a number of countries, that revolution could be nearer than we think.
“And, thanks to health and safety considerations, it could be that the fleet industry becomes one of the earliest users. The promise of a potentially accident-free fleet will be too great an attraction to resist.”
Mr Sowerby also added that there will no doubt be huge resistance to driverless cars as they are gradually introduced across the country. However, for fleets, the risk factor associated with human drivers may prove too strong a case for driverless fleets to take over, according to the Chevin managing director.
He went on to say that an argument between a few upset drivers and the chance to implement a near-faultless autonomous vehicle fleet, then responsible managers will choose the latter every time. Additionally, he called into question a fleet’s need buy or lease cars in the future — instead, a vehicle-on-call service or a more general corporate mobility may emerge in its place.
