Latest Personal Auto Headlines

All the headlines from our Personal Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.

North Carolina Busts 70 Taxi, Limo Drivers in Insurance Rate Evasion Scheme

Mar 20 2017 // When dozens of taxi and limo drivers claimed the same home address, it led to a big insurance bust. North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey says 70 Charlotte-area taxi and limousine drivers falsely listed the...

Trump’s Infrastructure Plan Could Pave Way for Self-Driving Cars, Smart Roads

Mar 20 2017 // What does the Trump Administration have in store for the development of autonomous vehicles and smart roads? With the administration’s ambitious infrastructure plan still far from finalized, Hilary Rowen, a partner...

California Judge Approves $27M Driver Settlement in Lyft Lawsuit

Mar 17 2017 // A U.S. judge has given final approval to a settlement agreement in a class-action lawsuit against Lyft Inc., ending a legal case that challenged the independent contractor status of the ride-hailing service’s...

Self-Driving Cars to Transform Motor Insurance in Liability Shift: Fitch

Mar 17 2017 // Widespread use of autonomous vehicles will completely transform the motor insurance sector over the long term when liability begins to shift towards manufacturers and traditional risk pools shrink, according to a report...

When Will Self-Driving Cars Be Rolled-Out? Carmakers, Suppliers Disagree

Mar 17 2017 // Carmakers and suppliers gave widely differing timelines for the introduction of self-driving vehicles on Thursday, showing the uncertainties surrounding the technology as well as a split between cautious established...

Statewide Ban on Texting While Driving Passed by Texas House

Mar 16 2017 // The Texas House on March 15 passed a statewide ban on texting while driving. Members voted 113-32 to tentatively approve the legislation, which will get a final vote in the House before it can proceed to the Senate. A...

Texas Bill Banning Texting While Driving Statewide Goes to Senate

Mar 14 2017 // A bill that passed the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee on March 13 aims to restrict texting while driving statewide. While several cities already have ordinances that restrict texting while behind the wheel, SB 31 by...

Uber Settlement to Give California Drivers $1 Each Does Not Win Over Judge

Mar 13 2017 // Uber Technologies Inc. failed to persuade a judge to approve a settlement offering 1.6 million California drivers an average of $1.08 each to dispense with alleged labor-code violations that their lawyer earlier claimed...

Uber Settlement with Drivers Ignites Battle Among Rival Lawyers

Mar 10 2017 // Another Uber Technologies Inc. lawsuit settlement is under siege, with warring lawyers for drivers again trying to tear the deal apart. The company wants a Los Angeles judge to bless a proposal to pay 1.6 million...

California Legislators Consider Self-Driving Vehicles and the Need for Prop 103 Reform

Mar 9 2017 // Proposition 103—California’s restrictive regulatory regime for insurance—may need a few tweaks as fewer and fewer cars on the road have human drivers. During a March 8 informational hearing, members of the...

Trump’s Infrastructure Plan Could Pave Way for Self-Driving Cars, Smart Roads

Mar 8 2017 // Powered by InsuranceJournal.tv What does the Trump Administration have in store for the development of autonomous vehicles and smart roads? With the administration’s ambitious infrastructure plan still far from...

Autonomous Bus Without Back-Up Driver Coming to California Road

Mar 7 2017 // A pair of $250,000 autonomous buses began driving around an empty San Francisco Bay Area parking lot this week in preparation to move onto a local public road in California’s first pilot program for a self-driving...

Rhode Island Attorney General Wants Uber, Lyft Drivers Fingerprinted

Mar 7 2017 // Rhode Island’s attorney general wants to start fingerprinting Uber and Lyft drivers, as well as traditional taxi cab drivers. The state last year adopted a new law that officially legalized ride-hailing app companies...

Texas Number 1 in Fatal Crashes, Alcohol-Impaired Driving

Mar 6 2017 // Texas highways continue to be deadly, with an increase in traffic crashes involving injuries and fatalities. Last year, 3,390 traffic crashes resulted in 3,757 fatalities and 175,347 traffic crashes resulted in 263,536...

London’s Uber Drivers Need to Pass English Language Tests, Court Rules

Mar 3 2017 // Uber Technologies Inc. lost a ruling over London transport rules that require language tests for drivers, which could keep 40,000 people from joining the industry over the next three years. Judge John Mitting ruled in...

Many Ontario Drivers Don’t Recognize Insurance Fraud’s Effects on Premiums

Mar 2 2017 // A recent survey of Ontario, Canada drivers raises concerns about their ability to recognize, and therefore reject and report, auto insurance fraud. The survey conducted by Ipsos for the Financial Services Commission of...

Self-Driving Nissan Car Begins Tests on Streets of London

Feb 27 2017 // Guided by cameras and radars, and negotiating traffic and roundabouts, a self-driving Nissan car took to the streets of London on Monday for the Japanese company’s first European tests of an autonomous...

EU Lawmakers Call for Law Regulating Rise of Robots, Including Self-Driving Cars

Feb 24 2017 // European lawmakers on Feb. 16 called for EU-wide legislation to regulate the rise of robots, including an ethical framework for their development and deployment and the establishment of liability for the actions of robots...

Bill Protecting Drivers Who Hit Protesters Dies in North Dakota

Feb 21 2017 // A controversial North Dakota bill that sought to shield motorists from liability if they unintentionally hit a protester on a roadway, injuring or killing them failed to garner enough support from lawmakers. House Bill...

Driver Deaths Rose 6% in 2016, Topping 40,000

Feb 17 2017 // U.S. motor vehicle accident deaths last year topped 40,000 for the first time since 2007 as cheap gasoline and a healthy economy encouraged motorists to drive more, according to new estimates released by the National...