Post roundtable focuses on ADAS

Wednesday, 03 May 2017

Post roundtable focuses on ADAS

A recent Post roundtable, in association with National Windscreens focused on ADAS and the implications for insurers, repairers and customers.

With autonomous vehicles a 'hot' topic and looking likely to stay that way, insurers need to understand the technology and ensure it remains safe.

ADAS is growing in popularity and it is estimated that 40% of UK vehicles will be fitted with it by 2020 according to National Windscreens. While automated vehicles are expected to reduce the number of accidents on UK roads, there is a concern that the maintenance of these systems does not match up to the manufacture.

At the roundtable, Martin Milliner, claims director at LV, said that manufacturers aren't thinking about the insurance implications or the liability implications while they're designing and building this technology into vehicles.

'It's very much an afterthought at the moment,' he said. 'If manufacturers did have these concerns at the centre of their design principles, then we wouldn't be in a position where we have an aftermarket dealing with recalibration issues.'

Bob Dawson, claims major loss manager at Allianz, added manufacturers need to be more engaged with both insurers and the aftermarket. 'If manufacturers want to be seen to be engaging in the liability and insurance challenges, then they need to be very open and engaging on better access and sharing.'

With several different components working together to detect objects or movements surround the vehicle, lives can be saved but if a component fails, where does liability fall?

'Insurers are in a very, very weak position in terms of proving who was at fault,' said Paul Wilyman, motor underwriting manager at Covéa.

'We cannot tell whether it was the driver, whether it was the installer, the retailer, the original manufacturer. If we don't have that information, then it places us insurers on the back foot.'

Post reports that some motor manufacturers have made life a little easier for insurers and have said they will accept liability for accidents that occur when the autonomous mode is engaged. Volvo is one manufacturer that has been vocal in its acceptance of responsibility for its vehicles' systems. However, some other companies (such as Tesla) have said that all they will do is provide the vehicle and its technical systems, insisting their responsibility ends there – a confusing message for insurers.

Pete Marsden, managing director at National Windscreens, said the approach from the likes of Volvo towards liability is laudable. However, manufacturers are not taking the right level of responsibility or accountability when it comes to after-sales and vehicle maintenance.

'The issue is what happens down the line in terms of giving the right skills, data or training to body shops and the people that service and support the complexity of the technology that is now in vehicles, Pete said.

'We've got technology in vehicles now that is well ahead of the capability of the aftersales market to support. The manufacturers have to take responsibility and accountability for doing something about that because they are getting ahead of the capability that supports the consumer and the public safety at large.'

The problem comes when replacing or refitting windscreens on vehicles fitted with ADAS, all components/sensors must be safely calibrated or the system may become redundant.

Adam Murray, motor technical manager at Aviva (and IAEA President), explained that a windscreen sensor that is one degree out of alignment could impact the accuracy of the sensor by as much as 30%.

Calibration is required not just after windscreen replacement but in multiple situations that could affect the alignment of the car including changing a tyre, a change in wheel alignment, as well as an accident, Adam added.

In order to combat this, repairers now recalibrate the windscreen once it has been installed. Barry Donaldson, business development director, National Windscreens, said manufacturers request recalibration to be carried out in 'factory conditions', adding to the cost of repair for both insurers and repairers.

Also adding to the financial challenge is the fact that there isn't a single, comprehensive calibration solution that can be used across all vehicles, he added.

'We've never had to do something that's then interfered with the running of the car. It used to be that you took a glass out and put it back in again. Replacing the glass is going to be an incidental part of what we do now,' Barry said.

Training staff to use new equipment while vital is a large cost for repairers, it may well be large enough to prevent some garages carrying out the work.

'As a windscreen company, we're having to do recalibrations. We don't know if it's necessary but the manufacturers say that we have to do it,' Barry said. 'We have to have an audit trail and we have to be able to produce that in the future if there's an accident.

'Repairers have to recalibrate but don't know if it's actually effective before they start. So there might be nothing wrong with the vehicle but you have to go through a recalibration to say that it has been recalibrated.'

Ultimately, this cost will be passed on to the policyholder, Paul Wilyman added.

A recent Post whitepaper 'Advanced driver assistance systems and their impact on the future of the UK motor insurance market' found that 24% of insurers said it is reasonable to assume that insurers should absorb the cost, 35% said it should be the manufacturer and 24% said various factors would have to be considered and it would depend on why the particular instrument needed recalibration.

One way to bring down costs is through systems that are able to self-calibrate, Martin Milliner said, reducing the need for repairers to do so.

'It should be self-calibrating technologies that are installed into vehicles,' he said. 'If you had self-calibrating technologies in vehicles, then a lot of the potential disputes around effectiveness of the technology would go away.'

Recalibration also presents an issue at the point of a claim, said Eleri Williamson, technical consultant at RSA. Williamson said policyholders may not be aware of a vehicle's capability and, therefore, may not understand when something has gone wrong.

Ultimately, the individual insurers will need to evaluate policy wordings to deal with the issue of recalibration costs, Eleri Williamson, technical consultant at RSA said, reporting that cases where the blame has fallen on ADAS systems have not appeared yet, meaning that there is no experience of understanding technology faults yet.

Another area for consideration is non accident related recalibration – 'Heavy braking, even hitting a pothole can send a windscreen sensor out of alignment. It's not even an accident but at the moment our policies don't really cover this sort of cost. They're not clear on whether those things are covered' said Martin Milliner. The question is then 'who pays for the recalibration?', will it lead to perfectly good vehicles being written off because the cost of recalibration is too high?

The safety ratings of the Euro NCAP were changed earlier this year. Now any new vehicle wanting to be granted the five-star rating requires two separate forms of ADAS: autonomous emergency braking and lane departure warning.

In July 2016, Thatcham Research issued a Code of Practice for the replacement and resetting of automotive glazing for vehicles fitted with screen-mounted ADAS. The idea is to create consistency in the market and ensure repairers and body shops work to consistent standards.

There are now calls for the government to create a data-sharing regime in order that insurers can get information from manufacturers. Adam Murray said, 'if they (manufacturers)don't give shared access, then the liability could be cloudy because they could eliminate the data quite readily and make it more difficult for people to actually access the right data to inform the right event. That's the issue.

'If you don't have the data at the right point from both sides, it's difficult to fully understand what actually happened.'

It is crucial that the industry maintains perspective as to the benefits of these systems and continues to support and drive forward this life-saving technology, Martin Milliner said.

'Insurers have to be responsible and supportive. We must be seen to be able to support and aid and not slow down the progress of this. The big prize for all of us is a reduction in killed and seriously injured people.'

Source: InsurancePOST