Yes, you heard it right – Google’s latest project is self driving autos. Now, the first thought that flashed my mind was how would insurance work on self driving autos? I caught up with some of the insurance market experts and had their views over insurance market and how van insurance from Staveley Head would work if indeed the project turns out to be a success.

Google is currently testing this project on Toyota Priuses which are driving through city traffic, mountain terrains, and busy highways and have covered over 190,000 miles with occasional human intervention. The project is not yet ready commercially, but Google has demonstrated the system on driverless golf carts on its campus. Although, Google is deploying the automation on cars as of now but if it proves to be a success, there’s no betting against the system being tested and used in other autos as well.

I had many queries regarding the liability of the insurance and who will hold it – the owner of the car or the manufacturer? How would it affect the overall insurance market? And the list goes endless. They replied that although the idea of self driving cars seems fascinating, there can be some limitations over the same. But, if Google proves that the project is completely safe and that there will be reduced accidents, it can have a huge impact over the entire industry. There would be much more reductions in claims which in turn will mean lower insurance costs for everyone.

The technology head of the system, Urmson revealed that the most crucial part of the system is the LIDAR which is a rotating sensor mounted on car roof which scans more than 200 feet in all directions and generates a 3D map of the surroundings. These laser measurements alongwith high-resolution maps are combined by the car which produces different types of data models allowing itself to drive while avoiding obstacles and following traffic laws. The vehicle also carries other sensors including a camera which is positioned near rear-view mirror to detect traffic lights, four radars which are mounted on front and rear bumpers which act like ‘eyes’ and allow far fetch visibility of traffic. It also consists of wheel encoder, inertial measurement unit and GPS which keeps a track of the movement of car.

Google has some points to work on especially getting out the obstacles of safety and law. But, this has to be the most revolutionary steps towards looking into the automobile industry of the future and since it comes out from the one of the best companies of the world, that surely assures me of something ‘big’. Only time will tell whether this will change our lifestyle for the good or ruin it completely.