Page 8 - TurkInsurance Digital Magazine

6 cover story

The Netherlands is most prepared for autonomous ve-
hicles

The index is prepared based on the criteria that will instigate
the autonomous vehicle era: ‘policy and legislation’, ‘technolo-
gy and innovation’, ‘infrastructure’, and ‘consumer acceptance’.
According to the index, top five countries in the ranking are the
Netherlands, Singapore, USA, Sweden and United Kingdom.
Germany ranks 6th. Japan is 11th in terms of preparedness;
while United Arab Emirates managed to rank in top ten as the
8th country. The index consists of 20 countries, and the bottom
three countries are Russia, Mexico and India.

The Netherlands provides an AV readiness model for other coun-
tries to follow, with its well-maintained road network, highest
density of electrical vehicle charging points, and high-quality
wireless networks. Singapore lost to the Netherlands with just
a little difference, but tops two pillars of this index: policy and Japan, China and India are listed at the bottom of the
legislation and consumer acceptance. An amendment in 2017 to index
its Road Traffic Act allowing self-driving vehicles to be tested
on public roads made the country leader in the regulation side. Technology giant Japan cannot enter in the top 10 due to its ‘tra-
Singapore’s high-quality roads and wireless connection networks ditional’ structure. China, world’s second largest economy, ranks
play to its advantage. However, deficiency of electrical charging at the bottom 4th of the index. India is at the end of the list, due
stations take Singapore’s infrastructural score lower. Ranking to the deficiency of its road quality and infrastructure, unwilling-
third in the index, USA has a unique position in terms of auton- ness of its drivers, and the effective ban on autonomous vehicles.
omous vehicle technology.
World’s leading countries in technology, industry and automo-
The country has by far the greatest number of AV companies, tive, continue to make significant amounts of investment in au-
with 163 headquarters. Sweden, which has housed one of the tonomous vehicles. These rapid developments indicate that AV
world-famous automotive brands, has the highest number of AV (autonomous vehicle) technologies will reshape many sectors in
company headquarters by head of population. Sweden hosts su- the future. Especially insurance sector, which is in close relations
pervised autonomous driving trials since 2017.
with the automotive industry, is estimated to be deeply impacted
by the AV technology and might go through a renovation.

AV technology may indirectly decrease insurance pre-
miums

Ernst & Young, international audit and consultancy company,
has researched the impacts of AV technology on the insurance
market. According to their report, a new technology will be
launched in 2020 that will help prevent traffic accidents. More-
over, technological advancements in the automotive sector are
expected to decrease insurance premiums and lengthen vehicle
guarantee periods.