The founder and CTO of autonomous vehicle software provider Oxbotica says autonomy is going to 'upend' transport businesses everywhere.
The company has recently raised $140m in to deploy its operating system in new geographical territories.
Addressing an audience of insurers at Lloyd's of London this week, Paul Newman said that every aspect of ‘moving stuff’ is going to change eventually: “All of it is going to be turned upside down by autonomy in the end - the only question here is which industries get upended first.”
Autonomy will help fix C02 emissions by greater engine efficiency – for instance by making braking and acceleration smoother, he continued.
“Oxbotica’s vision is for a sustainable, safe and efficient use of transport,” Newman said.
He suggests that AVs have to answer four questions: 'Where am I? What's around me? What should I do? And now what do I share?'
This ‘sharing’ aspect “will transform insurance”, he says. "Autonomy and insurance are intertwined like the blue and red paint in maroon."
Instead of, for example, having 16- to 18-year-olds who have had a few driving lessons before passing a test and getting on the road in their vehicles, you can have a vehicle which will know how to drive.
“Fundamentally when you start driving you have no experience: now imagine you have access to the miles driven by every vehicle, ever," Newman says, adding that this is the ‘knockout’ reason for autonomy.
