If the thought of riding in a self-driving car sounds like a bad idea to you, there’s some good news for you. In order to build trust with riders, Waymo, self-driving unit of Alphabet, has announced that it would be partnering with an insurance startup to cover riders while they take rides in its driverless ride-hailing cars.
The insurance tech startup, Trov, is based in Danville, California, said that it would work with Waymo to insurance passengers for lost and damaged property, as well as trip-related medical expenses. If, god forbid, that you’re involved in an accident while riding the driverless Waymo car, your treatment will be fully covered thanks to the partnership between Trov and Waymo. Here’s the best part. Passengers won’t have to pay for any coverage, nor will they know that Trov is the insurer taking care of them.
It’s also worth mentioning that Waymo is Trov’s first ever corporate client. Aside from this, car insurance agencies are scrambling to respond to autonomous technology. Some consultants have predicted that 80 percent of insurance premiums could evaporate over the next decade. This is under the assumption that driverless technology makes it a lot safer to travel and themselves become a lot less accident-prone.
Waymo is expecting to launch its first commercial ride-hailing services in early 2018. It will launch in a suburb of Phoenix. The company has already been operating fully driverless vehicles on public roads for some time now and there was also no safety driver behind the wheel.
