Latest Personal Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Personal Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
U.S. Safety Agency to Google: Software Qualifies as a Driver
Feb 22 2016 // U.S. vehicle safety regulators have said the artificial intelligence system piloting a self-driving Google car could be considered the driver under federal law, a major step toward ultimately winning approval for...
Tennessee High Court Rules to Make it Easier to Arrest, Convict Drunk Drivers
Feb 19 2016 // In two unanimous decisions, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled Feb. 11 that police have the right to stop motorists if their vehicles cross roadway markings, even if briefly, essentially making it easier to arrest and...
South Carolina Jury Awards $1M to Victim of Drunk Driver
Feb 10 2016 // A Richland County jury has awarded about $1 million in punitive damages to a woman injured in a car crash involving a repeat drunken driver. The State newspaper reported that a jury last week also awarded Jami Allison...
Software Qualifies as a Driver, Says U.S. Safety Agency on Google Self-Driving Car
Feb 10 2016 // U.S. vehicle safety regulators have said the artificial intelligence system piloting a self-driving Google car could be considered the driver under federal law, a major step toward ultimately winning approval for...
Self-Driving Vehicles Meet Their Match When Snow Creates Sensor Blindness
Feb 10 2016 // In Jokkmokk, a tiny hamlet just north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden, where temperatures can dip to 50 below, Volvo Cars’ self-driving XC90 sport-utility vehicle met its match: frozen flakes that caked on radar...
Study: Among Indiana Cities Terre Haute Has Fewer Driving Deaths
Feb 9 2016 // A consumer advocacy organization says Terre Haute is the Indiana city with the fewest distracted and drunken driving fatalities. The Tribune-Star reports that ConsumerAffairs conducted a nationwide study using the latest...
Aspen MGA to Acquire Midlands Management’s Texas Personal Auto Book
Feb 5 2016 // Aspen Managing General Agency (MGA) and Midlands Management of Texas announced that Aspen MGA has acquired the renewal rights of the Texas personal auto business currently managed by Midlands Management. Richard Bird,...
Why Google’s Not So Smart or Fast and Insurance Agents Aren’t Dead… Yet
Feb 2 2016 // Insurance agents aren’t dead yet, but even underwriters participating in the personal automobile insurance market may be looking for another line of work within the next two decades, industry observers said at a...
Uber’s Bid to Pause Suit by California Drivers Group Rejected
Jan 29 2016 // Uber Technologies Inc. lost its bid to pause a lawsuit by California drivers demanding to be treated as employees that has grown dramatically in both size and potential liability. The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco...
A Drunk Driving Case Made for TV’s ‘Law & Order’
Jan 29 2016 // I can’t be the only one who thinks they should bring back the original “Law & Order.” If NBC did, the show’s first case should be one that went on trial this week in a local court in Mineola,...
Florida Tornado Tosses Vehicle Driving on Turnpike
Jan 29 2016 // A tornado picked up a southbound vehicle on Florida’s Turnpike near Fort Lauderdale Wednesday morning and dropped it in the northbound lane as a line of severe storms hit the area, officials said. They said the...
Lyft’s $12 Million Settlement with Ridesharing Drivers Avoids Employee Classification
Jan 27 2016 // Ride-hailing service Lyft has agreed to settle a proposed class action lawsuit in California by giving drivers additional workplace protections but without classifying them as employees, removing a major threat to its...
The Main Street America Group Launches Personal Auto Program in South Carolina
Jan 26 2016 // The Main Street America Group has introduced Main Street Protection Auto, its new private passenger auto insurance program for the preferred/standard marketplace in South Carolina via its statewide network of independent...
Zurich Names Generali’s Greco as CEO, with Task of Driving Turnaround
Jan 26 2016 // Zurich Insurance Group AG hired Assicurazioni Generali SpA’s Mario Greco as chief executive officer, giving him the task of turning around the company, after losses in its general insurance business forced the Swiss...
Expert Sounds off on Legal, Insurance Issues of Self-Driving Cars
Jan 25 2016 // Hilary Rowen, a partner in the law firm of Sedgwick LLP in Sacramento, Calif., for the last three years has been analyzing and following the insurance issues relating to the emergence of autonomous vehicles, particularly...
5 Trends Driving Change in Insurance Distribution
Jan 25 2016 // The property and casualty (P/C) industry is in a great position for further growth in the upcoming year. Robust economic recovery along with the entry of new products and services have enhanced the industry’s...
Texas Man Gets Life for 10th Drunk Driving Conviction
Jan 24 2016 // A judge concerned about public safety sentenced a 62-year-old North Texas man to life in prison for his 10th drunken driving conviction since the 1980s. Ivy Ray Eberhardt, of Weatherford, Texas, would be eligible for...
Mass. Senate to Consider Ban on Using Handheld Cellphones While Driving
Jan 21 2016 // Motorists in Massachusetts may soon have to put down their cellphones when they’re on the road. A bill prohibiting the use of hand-held mobile electronic devices while driving would also make it illegal to enter...
West Virginia Tackling Underage Drinking, Driving Through ‘NO School Spirits’ Contest
Jan 21 2016 // The West Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Administration has received a record 78 entries from high school students for a contest discussing the dangers of drinking and driving and underage alcohol consumption. Sixteen...
Self-Driving Cars Still Need Human Help in California Tests
Jan 14 2016 // Futuristic self-driving cars traveling along California roads have needed plenty of old-fashioned human intervention to stay safe. California’s Department of Motor Vehicles this week released reports filed by seven...
