Who we insure
Autonomy & Autonomous Vehicles
For companies building autonomous vehicles, autonomy stacks and self-driving systems for roads, yards, farms, mines and ports. The program separates the vehicle on the road from the product that drives it.
What coverage you need, and why
An autonomy company needs commercial auto for the vehicles it operates on public roads, general liability with products and completed operations for the system it sells, and tech E&O for the customer whose money is lost when the system gets it wrong. Test fleets add hired and non-owned auto for the safety drivers' movements, equipment coverage for the sensor suites, and workers' compensation for the drivers and technicians. Most contracts add an umbrella.
Where a permit regime exists, it sets the floor. California requires a manufacturer testing an autonomous vehicle on public roads to hold an instrument of insurance, a surety bond, or proof of self-insurance of $5,000,000 (California Vehicle Code section 38750(b)(3)). Other states have their own regimes or none, and the contract with a customer or a road authority does the rest.
Why the line confusion matters
A vehicle that drives itself into a crash produces two claims at once: an auto claim against whoever operated the vehicle, and a products claim against whoever built the system that was driving. Commercial auto responds to the first. General liability with products coverage responds to the second, if its form does not exclude autonomous operation. A company that only bought one of them holds half the exposure uninsured.
Autonomy software companies sit in the second claim without ever owning a vehicle. The fleet operator's auto policy pays the victim, then the operator's insurer looks for the company whose software was in control. That subrogation claim is answered by tech E&O and products coverage, and a generic form may carry an exclusion for exactly the decision the software made.
We place the auto, the products and the E&O as one program, with insurers who write autonomy explicitly, and read the exclusions for a system that was driving on its own.
What permits, customers and sites require
California's testing statute sets $5,000,000 as the amount of insurance, bond or self-insurance a manufacturer must show the DMV before testing on public roads (California Vehicle Code section 38750(b)(3)), and the DMV's autonomous vehicle regulations page carries the testing and deployment regulations and the permit applications. We do not cite a figure for any other state on this page, because we have not verified one against that state's own statute or agency page. Ask us before assuming a state has no requirement.
Customers set the rest. A logistics customer running your trucks asks for commercial auto at $5M or more with the customer as additional insured, plus general liability and an umbrella. A port, a mine or a farm asks for general liability, workers' compensation with a waiver of subrogation, and equipment coverage for machines left on site. A vehicle maker licensing your stack asks for tech E&O and products coverage at limits that match the fleet they plan to build.
Public road authorities and test tracks ask for a certificate naming them, and a few ask to see the safety case alongside it. The certificate is a document the customer's risk manager files, and it has to match their exhibit line by line.
What it costs
We don't publish a number. Premiums come back from the carriers' underwriters for your operation, and any figure we printed here would be a guess dressed as a fact.
The drivers are the operating design domain, the number and type of vehicles, miles driven autonomously, the safety-driver model, the disengagement record, the mass and speed of the platform, and the customer contracts. A test fleet on public roads is a different placement from a yard truck behind a fence, and an off-road platform is different again.
What to watch for in the wording
Read the commercial auto form for any exclusion naming autonomous or automated driving, and for the definition of who is an insured when no one is in the driver's seat. Read the general liability form for the products and completed operations grant and for autonomy, AI and unmanned equipment exclusions. Standard-form generative AI exclusions exist for general liability as of January 2026 (Fenwick, 2026-06-15), and for products coverage too (see the AI exclusions tracker).
Read the tech E&O form's definition of technology services and check it reaches a system's decision to steer, brake or stop. Then read the exclusions for bodily injury, which most E&O forms carry, and confirm the general liability policy is the one answering the physical harm so the two do not leave a gap between them.
For a test fleet, read the hired and non-owned auto grant, the driver warranties, and the territory. For off-road platforms, read the definition of an auto, because a machine that never sees a public road may belong on general liability and equipment coverage. The wrong choice leaves it uninsured.
The lines that anchor the program
Click through the lines a company like yours usually carries, and what each one answers.
1 of 5
General Liability
Someone outside your company gets hurt or their property gets damaged. This pays the harm and the legal bill.
Comes up: Your first lease, customer contract, or on-site visit.
What it coversHow to buy it
Tell us what the system drives, where, at what speed, with what supervision, and what the permits and contracts require. The application builds a submission that describes the operating design domain in the underwriter's terms, and a licensed broker takes it to the insurers who write autonomy explicitly.
Quotes come back with the forms. We read the auto, products and E&O policies together, show you where each one responds and where an exclusion sits, and issue certificates to the permit or the customer's exhibit once it binds.
Common questions
What insurance does California require to test autonomous vehicles?
California Vehicle Code section 38750(b)(3) requires a manufacturer testing on public roads to hold an instrument of insurance, a surety bond, or proof of self-insurance of $5,000,000, shown to the DMV before testing. Deployment permits run under the DMV's own regulations.
Is an autonomous vehicle claim a commercial auto claim or a product liability claim?
Usually both. The auto policy answers the vehicle on the road; products coverage under general liability answers the system that was driving. A company needs both forms read together, subject to each carrier's wording.
We only write the software. Do we need auto insurance?
Not for vehicles you do not operate. You need tech E&O and products coverage that reach a driving decision, because the fleet operator's insurer will look to you after paying a claim.
Can a claim be denied because the vehicle was in autonomous mode?
It can, if the policy excludes autonomous operation or defines the insured around a human driver. That wording is what we read before anything binds.
Do off-road autonomous machines use the same lines?
Often not. A machine that never enters a public road may belong on general liability and equipment coverage. The definition of an auto in the form decides, and choosing wrong leaves the machine uninsured.
Does teleoperation change the placement?
It helps the underwriter, because a documented remote-supervision model is a risk control. It does not remove the autonomy question, and the form still needs to respond between interventions.
Do drone and autonomous vehicle companies use the same lines?
No. Drones sit on aviation forms because of the aircraft exclusion in general liability. Road vehicles sit on commercial auto plus products coverage. The software that drives either sits on tech E&O in both cases.
Guides
Terms
See also
Sources
- 1. California Vehicle Code section 38750(b)(3), 2026-09-12.
- 2. California DMV, "California Autonomous Vehicle Regulations", 2026-09-12.
- 3. Fenwick, "The End of 'Silent AI'? Emerging AI Exclusions, Coverage Fragmentation and Practical Implications", 2026-06-15.
- 4. Risklytics, AI exclusions tracker, 2026-09-12.
This page describes coverage in general terms. It is not an offer of insurance, and carrier appetite, policy wording, licensing, and availability govern every quote and every claim. Last revised 2026-09-12.