As if Google positioning its self-driving car isn't impressive enough, the Silicon Valley juggernaut is also interested in changing the landscape of the auto insurance industry.
Having launched Google Compare — which lets users get the best quotes from existing car insurance companies — in the United Kingdom in 2012, the company launched a United States version this past March. starting in California. (Although it's not available in many states — New York being one of them, as a NYC-based Tech Times reporter found out Monday).
Consumers can get quotes from a dozen auto-insurance companies after they enter their demographic and vehicle information.
Still, when Google Compare reaches every state, its effects could be extensive, possibly even triggering an overhaul of the auto insurance market as we know it today. As a Wall Street Journal article pointed out, Google Compare could be setting up current and traditional car insurance carriers and taking their customers right from under their nose.
Once the service is up and running in every state, it will most certainly amass a huge amount of drivers' data that Google will collect. Google can possibly use that data to offer its own insurance policy, undercutting current carriers' fees. Or, as the Wall Street Journal says, Google can decide to make its own auto insurance fees be included with the retail purchase of its self-driving car in what would be a revolution of the auto insurance market.
Purchasing a self-driving car with insurance already taken care of as part of the cost? Sounds like a good deal. This added to the fact that Google is developing Android Auto as a car-infotainment system and it's clear that the tech company is trying to change the auto industry for good.
