The chances of a self driving car plowing into a crowd of people would be remote. That is one of the things that is included in the algorithms used in the cars. It certainly happens with driver controlled cars. Just yesterday at the Oklahoma State University home coming parade somebody did just that. The driver killed a bunch of people and seriously injured a bunch more. That probably would not have happened with a self driving car.
As far as insurance is concerned I expect it would still be required, but the premiums would go down sharply. Licensing of vehicles would still be required. The license fees would be paid by the owner of the car. Who would pay is open. Obviously the individual owner would pay. For a leased car it would depend on the lease terms. Either the lessee would pay or the leasing company would pay, depending on the contract. In either case it would be the lessee who actually paid, just as renters pay real estate taxes through their land lords.
Of course my heart bleeds for the insurance companies who make big bucks off of automobile insurance. Of course this would free up money for the individuals which they could spend on other things that would create new jobs in other fields.
Speed traps would dry up, but there has already been some relief from that, at least here in Oklahoma. Any town where more than 50% of the towns income is from traffic fines can be declared a speed trap. They then will not be able to issue tickets on the highway through the town. That shut down a bunch of speed traps. Of course in many places the reduction in need for traffic enforcement would free up valuable police resources to concentrate on other types of crime. We might actually be able to really provide better police protection against real crimes.
Bill Gill
