Some days it feels like insurance is devouring the entire mobility economy, with rising premiums taking down transportation options new and old alike. Auto insurance premiums have jumped a whopping 64% in the past five years, driven partially by a labor shortage but even more by the fact that cars have become computers on wheels, and your average sensor + chip stack doesn’t take kindly to being in a fender bender. Re-calibration of driver assistance systems in late model cars has quickly climbed to 36% of total repair estimates, averaging around $1.2-2.5k per claim.

While this can be a headache for individual car owners, collectively it can be the death knell for a fleet or shared operator. Last week, Zipcar announced it was shutting down its Boston HQ, as owner Avis streamlines its carsharing arm into its larger operations; this comes after its slow retreat from once-promising markets like the U.K.

New entrants aren’t immune from these challenges either. While robotaxi operators are aiming to be safer than human drivers, they’ll need to rack up years of driving data to realize those risk-adjusted pricing benefits. In the meantime, fixing the damage to a $100k+ AV is going to be a lot spendier than when a human TNC driver decides the 10th little dent on his or her old Camry isn’t even worth getting buffed out.

There are, of course, things that both regulators and corporate actors can do to ameliorate these issues. On today’s podcast, Jonah chats with Ed Walker, Practice Leader of Shared Economy, New Mobility and Autonomous Vehicles at Hub International, about recent state level reforms, like California’s SB 371, or a new bill in the works in Florida, that should help bring some relief to insurance prices. He and I also dig deep into what steps mobility startups can take, especially as they’re getting off the ground, to bake in the best practices that should lead to lower costs over the course of their businesses.

Elsewhere on the pod: Greg, Athena and Jonah jump in to the market’s reaction to Lyft and Uber’s latest earnings, Waymo’s latest fundraising haul, Uber Eats’ foray into Turkey, and how Jamaica is using drones to recover from Hurricane Melissa. Do tune in!

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