Car Insurance and ASS.

[SteelMyHeart]

Does anybody have any insight to what car insurance companies have to say about Actually Smart Summon? Since ASS is phone controlled by the driver will insurance cover accidents with other cars, pedestrians etc., despite no physical presence of the driver in the car?

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[24tex24]

I'm an attorney, but this is NOT my area of expertise and this is not legal advice.

That being said, it's all about liability. If you push a button on your phone, enabling ASS, and your car with ASS enabled by you, causes an accident; you will be liable. I don't know whether insurance companies are up to speed on this yet, but I would be surprised if they try and avoid claims because the car wasn't "manned".

From what I understand about ASS, it will be relatively slow speeds and all cameras will be active. I can't imagine there are many serious accidents at ASS speeds.

 

[SteelMyHeart]

I'm an attorney, but this is NOT my area of expertise and this is not legal advice.

That being said, it's all about liability. If you push a button on your phone, enabling ASS, and your car with ASS enabled by you, causes an accident; you will be liable. I don't know whether insurance companies are up to speed on this yet, but I would be surprised if they try and avoid claims because the car wasn't "manned".

From what I understand about ASS, it will be relatively slow speeds and all cameras will be active. I can't imagine there are many serious accidents at ASS speeds.

I wonder what other drivers and their insurance company will say if they hit a tesla tapping that ASS. Certainly Musk and car insurance folks should provide some insight relatively soon because if Musk wants us to have the option of our personal vehicle being autonomous robotaxi while I do desk work I wanna know I'm covered.

 

[txtravwill]

I agree, if you're going to use ASS then likely your ass is on the line for any issues. What would be interesting is if ASS use ever grows a lot in use then will agencies start charging more for Teslas if it has FSD (a subsection when selecting your model/trim, etc.) and you end up paying higher liability insurance.

There WILL be issues with ASS and they will likely make the news or start to have their moment in the spotlight surely, especially with the robotaxi stories taking off soon and if that business venture ever does start to test.

 

[24tex24]

I wonder what other drivers and their insurance company will say if they hit a tesla tapping that ASS. Certainly Musk and car insurance folks should provide some insight relatively soon because if Musk wants us to have the option of our personal vehicle being autonomous robotaxi while I do desk work I wanna know I'm covered.

Totally agree. Tesla has had to think about this and will likely cover this during the rollout advertising.

Hypothetically, when robotaxis are everywhere and start getting in accidents with "manned" cars; it's going to be a legal sh&*tshow until the process is normalized. If the robotaxi is "at fault", Tesla is going to have to indemnify owners for costs to repair and for liability/medical costs for the parties involved or the product will fail. This will all be built into the rates charged for the service.

If I were personally liable for my cars "actions" on robotaxi trips; I would NEVER allow my car to act as a robotaxi. There is just too much civil liability there to make it worth it. Tesla will have to stand behind all robotaxi operations.

One more thing on insurance. As autonomous driving becomes more prevalent; accident rates will come down and corresponding insurance premiums should rise slower (insurance rates never come down, in my experience).

 

[Deleted member 17810]

You are guiding the vehicle. You are responsible.

 

[SCTesla]

Does anybody have any insight to what car insurance companies have to say about Actually Smart Summon? Since ASS is phone controlled by the driver will insurance cover accidents with other cars, pedestrians etc., despite no physical presence of the driver in the car?

You agree to accept all liability when using ASS/Dumb Summon and agree that you will monitor the car.

It's no different than you wrecking.

 

[CarMan ElecTruck]

If this is a question, you should not have the privilege of a license…

 

[SteelMyHeart]

If this is a question, you should not have the privilege of a license…

I'm not saying if I am directing the car with my phone and it crashes that I am not responsible. What I am wondering is what car insurance companies would say about covering the damages in such an incident?

I do have some concern that if I wreck my tesla using ASS is the car insurance company going to refuse to cover it?

 

[SteelMyHeart]

I did a little searching. The above link is from 4 years ago and to summarize his insurance company couldn't tell him summon was definitively covered.

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