SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the don't-tell-them-about-motorcycles dept.
Like record companies at the dawn of online music file sharing, Allstate, Geico, State Farm, and others are grappling with innovations that could put a huge dent in their revenue. As carmakers automate more aspects of driving, accidents will likely plunge and car owners will need less coverage. Premiums consumers pay could drop as much as 60 percent in 15 years as self-driving cars hit the roads, says Donald Light, head of the North America property and casualty practice for Celent, a research firm. His message for insurers: "You have to be prepared to see that part of your business shrink, probably considerably."
Auto insurance has long been a lucrative business. The industry collected about $195 billion in premiums last year from U.S. drivers. New customers are the source of so much profit that Geico alone spends more than $1 billion a year on ads to pitch its policies with a talking lizard and other characters. Yet even Warren Buffett, whose company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns Geico, is talking about the long-term risks to the business model. "If you could come up with anything involved in driving that cut accidents by 30 percent, 40 percent, 50 percent, that would be wonderful," he said at a conference in March. "But we would not be holding a party at our insurance company."
The loss of revenue for the insurance industry gives me a sad.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday July 31 2015, @04:37PM
It's kinda nice, getting to know a new friend or two while TriMet MAX zips past the ten-mile long traffic jam on I-5 in North Portland from early morning until mid-evenin, with only a modest lull around noon.
Those people are coming from or going to rural Clark County - Ridgefield, Battle Ground, Camas, La Canter, Hazel Dell and Salmon Creek where I live. Very few Vancouver residents work in Portland, they work in Vancouver.
There are lots of jobs in Clark County but not many tech jobs. There are a few very large employers like Wacom, Sharp Labs and Kyocera Industrial Ceramics, but only a few. There are a few small shops lke the one I work for but again only a few.
I am very fortunate to have found a local job; since 2010 I have been searching for work in Portland, because I actually want to live in Portland. Its important to me that I can walk to work.
Intel, Mentor Graphics, Tektronix, Microsoft and many other large firms are in Portland Metro. The is a huge support system for Intel - companies that sell Intel the toys its Fabs require.
There is an uncountable infinity of small shops, mostly mobile and web startups.
Skyrocketing Portland rents and real estate prices lead the Clark County Commission to encourage residential development here. To the best of my knowledge I myself am the only one working in any diligent way to promote tech in South-West Washington. The library does not want my donation of technical books. If I want to read O'Reilly or Addison-Wesley in a library I have to go to the Multnomah County Library in downtown Portland.
I am unclear as to why but C-TRAN runs only two busses on weekdays, none on the weekend, to Camas and Battle Ground. Hazel Dell and Salmon Creek have modestly acceptable bus service but it is clear to me those busses are not intended to serve those who actually live or work here.
There is a huge high school just down the street from me; in Portland all the kids get to school on TriMet. In Hazell Dell and Salmon Creek they drive there cars.
I am absolutelt serious that No One Walks In Salmon Creek ither than I. I have a good friend who rides his bicycle; everyone else drives.
I love Salmon Creek but I really will move into Portland because the busses in Salmon Creek dont get me where I want to go.
The political opposition to public transit doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The Columbian's Letters To The Editor are often floridly delusional. After a while I figured the car dealers were writing them.
No.
The Insurance Company.
I don't have auto insurance because I don't have a car. No car payments, no gasoline, no maintainence, no unexpected major repairs. I dont search or pay for parking.
I spend about fifty bucks per month on bus and train fare. It's also much safer than driving a car.
The I-5 bridge over the Columbia River is in desperate need of replacement but the Columbia River Crossing recently collapsed after one billion dollars and twenty years of planning because Washington refused to pay for its share of light rail into downtown Vancouver.
The real solution is to ride the busses we've already got. That will take cars off the road and provide funding for additional busses - that Virtuous Spiral that Jean-Louis Gassee always goes on about.
The way to accomplish that would be to serve the people who actually work in Clark County but because the C-TRAN Commission is dominated by real estate developers they wont permit that:
Houses sell for more money if they have a driveway and a two-car garage.
Mom loves the bus she loves the train but even sonI cannot convince her to actually ride them. She drives her car to places that I ride the bus to.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2, Touché) by timbojones on Friday July 31 2015, @05:52PM
As a resident of Seattle and a Portland native, I offer you a formal apology for the asshats in Eastern WA who don't seem to realize that urbanites are subsidizing their parsimony.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @07:03PM
The value that automated cars offer is the possibility that people can ride on demand to the exact places they want instead of having to ride in groups to places that are merely close to where they want to go. Automated cars can replace bus and taxi drivers, and make it economical to offer individual car service on demand. They will expand the number of people who don't want to own a car.