UK insurers detail the data they'll want from driverless cars

As car makers outfit their vehicles with more autonomous features, insurance providers are carefully weighing up how to cover owners of driverless cars while figuring out exactly who should be liable in an accident. The UK government agrees it's a major priority and has already laid down a common-sense framework to guide discussions, but the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has today published a specific list of rules that providers believe will best protect everyone involved. Insurers are asking for a "basic set of core data" that will be shared in the event of an accident. It will tell them whether a car was operating in autonomous mode or being driven manually and indicate which features were in use at the time. Information would also include the time and GPS location of an incident, when the vehicle was placed into driverless mode and when the driver last interacted with it (including steering and braking), as well as whether there was someone in the driver's seat and whether their seatbelt was secured.