Who will be rated: computer or human drivers? What will fewer cars on the road mean for carriers? And how will young agents guide the industry through the transformation that autonomous cars will bring to personal auto?

Those were some of the questions participants pondered during the Technology Tomorrow Land panel at last week’s Big “I” Fall Leadership Conference in New Orleans. The panel explored autonomous cars, cyber security, drones and favorite tech gadgets, among other topics.

Panelists included David Walker, Big “I” immediate past chairman; Jason Gross, senior consultant, Nationwide; Jonathan Kolbo, product manager, EZLynx; and Dale Steinke, digital marketing manager, Safeco Bricks & Clicks program. Two members of the national Young Agents committee—Doug Fairbanks of Hartland Insurance in Hartland, Michigan and Joe Hamilton of the Hal Rakowski Insurance Agency in Lakeside, California—moderated the discussion.

Fairbanks: We have talked a lot about autonomous cars at this conference, but it is something that we know is coming. It’s not a question of if we think it is coming. Manufacturers have built their own roads and it is soon to be in consumers’ hands. Insurance is like a freighter—it is slow to turn. As autonomous cars come, Jason, what do you see from a company standpoint? What are the opportunities?

Gross: I think no one has that answer yet because we are still a ways out from the complete adoption of autonomous cars. But I think the bottom line is how we insure is going to continue to evolve—and also where. I’m in Des Moines and I can actually see an opportunity for driverless cars and car sharing because we live downtown. I live a half a mile from my office. We have two cars because we have two kids, but we literally only put 2,000 miles on it last year. It’s just there because sometimes you need to have two kids in two different places. If I could have a car share within a block or two, I could get rid of that second car and walk more in a heartbeat.

The flip side is rural America. I think it’s going to be a lot slower to see the adoption. If there is more car sharing, it will be more commercial policies. I don’t think that the end of personal ownership of the vehicle is on the horizon, but there are plenty of futurists who are saying within the next generation, that could be the case.

Walker: As an agency principal starting in the early 80s, we had to manage the transition from going from paper and lots of file cabinets into a digital format. I think the challenge for young agents in this room is that you will work through the transition of autonomous cars. And going forward, your kids will have them—we just don’t know what form they will take. But you’re going to be stuck with managing that transition, which will not be easy.

Steinke: And I would say as a carrier, you as agents have to push us. When you’re seeing this stuff coming…You talk about autonomous cars, but there is a lot of other stuff that is coming too. Someone made a joke at another session about having an RV that is autonomous, and I thought, “Why not?” Think of middle America and all those RV owners.

And I think with autonomous cars people focus too much on the fact that it has to be a new vehicle. There are a lot of people looking now at how you retrofit existing vehicles. Some people are pooh-poohing the idea that this will come soon, saying people want to drive, people like to drive. But does anyone here like to drive in bumper-to-bumper traffic? Wouldn’t you rather be doing something else? Those things are going to push adoption. In smaller towns it might not happen quickly, but in metropolitan areas, yes.

Gross: Even before the autonomous cars, what we’re already seeing is accident avoidance technology—cars that will take over more and more of the driver’s responsibilities but are not fully autonomous. There is a large spectrum to get there. On one hand that is great for the consumer and it’s actually great for insurance companies because fewer accidents are better for all of us. But we’re also trying to figure out what that does to rates. Because while that technology isn’t adding a significant amount to the purchase price, it adds an incredible cost to repairs. I read an article recently about the number of cameras, sensors, etc. in the bumper and boy, think of the expense to replace and repair all of that.

Steinke: But it’s going to come down. Think of the phone you have in your pocket. That cell phone you have today is expensive, but 10 years ago it would have cost 20 times that.

Hamilton: But this is already happening now. My wife drives a Volt and was recently in a fender bender—someone hit her car. I was driving actually. It was just the plastic around the bumper that was damaged and normally that’s about $100. But the repair was $3,000 because the brain for the charging unit of the car was attached to that plastic and it was damaged. You talk about RVs. Freight Liner has an autonomous semi on the road in Nevada.

Steinke: Then you have semis that are all together. The front one is out there managing the speed and has a camera in it so that the ones behind can see what’s coming. With them tight together, now you have a train coming down the highway.

Gross: How are we even rating for when the human is in control versus when the computer is in control? And when the accident happens, who is responsible? We might need additional infrastructure to deal with autonomous cars. While it’s not tomorrow, I don’t think there is anyone up here who think it’s not coming.

Kolbo: And that’s why it’s an exciting time to be a young agent. There is so much change coming to our industry, and you guys are at the forefront of it.

Look for part two of the panel discussion in next week’s edition of News & Views.

Katie Butler is IA editor in chief.