Neglecting to update your driverless car with latest software could invalidate your insurance
MOTORISTS face having insurance policies voided in the future if they don't download latest software for driverless cars.
Drivers will need to keep an eye on updates – much like iPhones – to ensure cars are safe and free of hacking threats.
Failing to do so could invalidate your insurance and then leave you having a hefty payout if something wrong happens.
And asking the computers to consider in a dangerous situation may also lead to an insurer cancelling an insurance policy under new laws outlined through the Government.
The Automated and Electric Vehicle Bill reveals how insurance and driverless cars works in the future.
And while it confirmed insurers would still pay out to drivers following a claim and then recover costs back from manufacturers or tech firms.
It also revealed insurers will be protected if the drivers aren't maintaining up to now by installing software fixes released by manufacturers.
Tesla already offers these with drivers in a position to download and install them via in-built wifi.
The laws – that are currently being approved in the House of Commons – said "failure to install safety critical software updates that the insured person knows, or ought reasonably to know, are safety critical" could mean the insurer isn't liable.
Another exclusion includes "where the accident that it caused was wholly because of the person's negligence in allowing the vehicle to start driving itself when it was not appropriate to complete so".
Ben Howarth, senior adviser for motor and liability at the Association of British Insurers said: "These vehicles have the possibility to dramatically improve road safety and it's great to see the Government's on-going commitment to taking forward the legislation required to have them onto our roads.
"The planned method of insuring autonomous vehicles should keep the process as straightforward as possible for consumers, and it is based on proposals produced by the."
The bill also outlines that motorway services and enormous petrol stations will have to install charging points for electric cars later on.
The plan was initially revealed within the Queen's Speech and will also be mandated in the new laws.
Shell has already set the trend, opening its first plug-in points at a number of forecourts in the UK.