Speculation on the ultimate insurance ecosystem- Tesla Autos, Tesla Insurance, Tesla Repair Network and the competitive advantage- Tesla owning the data.
Building this up into a global fleet of privately driven autos and robotaxis the author argues that traditional incumbent insurers will not be able to offer competitive insurance without the completeness of driver and car data that Tesla collects.
Not only that; Tesla will take on the product liability insurance for autonomous vehicles and Tesla is a world leader in autonomous driving software. That freezes out incumbent insurers!
Of course, the article ignore other auto manufacturers which currently have much higher production volumes. Companies like VW and Toyota have the capacity to move entirely to EVs and control the data- perhaps in partnership with incumbent carriers. At the same time they must cope with an enormous investment in carbon-fuel powered vehicles, parts and repair networks.
Mercedes has given up the race to be a leader in autonomous vehicles and the joint venture with BMW has been terminated.
See Mercedes Says It Can't Win Race For Autonomous Driving, Bows Out.
Interesting times especially as Elon Musk catches so many companies off guard by his innovation, vision and ability to execute.
But, Tesla has a big advantage: the company has access to the unique data of its vehicles that no other insurance company can get. Data is the most important aspect of the pricing of insurance risks. As such, some insurance companies even offer their customers a special device to install on their car to help the company assess customer driving style. However, they will not even come close to getting the data that Tesla has about the driving habits of its customers. That is, no other company can predict this critical aspect as accurately and cheaply as Tesla. In fact, legacy insurance has no chance of making a competitive insurance offer to Tesla owners.