Why it matters for your company
A service van carrying robots to a pilot site is a commercial auto exposure. The policy pays for injuries and property damage the vehicle causes and, if chosen, damage to the vehicle itself.
Autonomous vehicles test the line. When a self-driving system is at the controls, a claim can look like an auto accident and a product defect at once, and the auto form and the product liability form may each point to the other. States that permit autonomous testing set their own financial responsibility rules; California requires evidence of $5M in insurance, a surety bond or self-insurance for testing (California DMV, accessed 2026-09-12).
Related terms
- Hired and non-owned autoLiability coverage for vehicles your business rents or that employees drive for work in their own cars. It is often added to general liability or written on the auto policy for companies that own no vehicles.
- Product liabilityLegal responsibility for injury or damage caused by a product you designed, made, sold or distributed. In insurance it is answered mainly by the products and completed operations part of general liability.
- Umbrella and excess liabilityBoth add limits above your primary liability policies. Excess follows the terms of one underlying policy, while an umbrella can sit over several and sometimes responds to claims the underlying forms leave out.
Sources
- 01California DMV, autonomous vehicle testing and deployment requirements, accessed 2026-09-12