Annual report warns that driverless cars could disrupt AllState’s insurance business

In the annual report for 2015, which was just filed with the SEC, US-insurance company AllState warns that autonomous cars could disrupt their business model. This is the first time that such a risk has been mentioned in the risk section of their annual report.

The following statement appears on page 20 of AllState Corporation’s annual report for fiscal year 2015 as filed with the SEC using form 10-K on 2016-02-19 (link to download page):

Other potential technological changes, such as driverless cars or technologies that facilitate ride or home sharing could disrupt the demand for our products from current customers, create coverage issues or impact the frequency or severity of losses, and we may not be able to respond effectively.

The company clearly sees the combined risk of the introduction of autonomous vehicles – which will significantly reduce accidents – and increased adoption of mobility services (which will become much more convenient and cost-effective through autonomous vehicle technology). The company also realizes that it will be very difficult to compensate for the resulting losses to their business model.

Sources: AllState, ibamag.com, Kargas