Representatives of the insurance industry recently told California legislators that the data produced by autonomous vehicles will be essential to setting rates and determining liability for driverless cars and trucks.

During a hearing convened by the California Senate Insurance Committee, Ryan Gammelgard, counsel for State Farm Insurance, asserted that underwriters are not seeking information “on every aspect of [a] vehicle,” according to an article on The Recorder website. But insurers want data that proves autonomous vehicle technology “actually does what it advertises it’s doing,” Gammelgard said.

“Data access is essential to develop proper pricing and underwriting of vehicles, critical for liability determinations and from the general public’s perspective, important in determining the safety and reliability of the technology,” Gammelgard said, quoted in an article by Cheryl Miller on The Recorder website.

In the article, Miller noted that insurers’ demand for data conflicts with the interests of car manufacturers, who worry about the loss of intellectual property if the data fell into the wrong hands via hacking.

“Privacy advocates have also questioned whether such data collection, if shared with third parties, could hurt consumers,” Miller wrote. “The insurers’ data pursuit may also run afoul of California’s voter-approved car insurance law, which prohibits a driver’s home address or driving destinations to be used as primary factors in setting rates.”

For more, read Miller’s article, “Insurance Carriers Say Driverless Car Data Is Key to Rates.”

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