Deloitte has seen the future of auto insurance, and it is bright— not to mention very, very different from what we see today.

In its newest report, "Insuring the future of mobility: The insuranceindustry's role in the evolving transportation ecosystem,"Deloitte Consulting predicts that the future of road travel will beshaped by the intersection of two key trends: the emergency ofautonomous vehicles, and shifts in mobility preferences — givingrise to shared access to transportation.

Each of these "future states" creates new requirements forexisting and new insurance customer segments looking for passengerautomobile related coverage, the authors note. This will lead tonew products and a shift in the emphasis of various sales channels.In short, new types of coverage for an evolving set ofinsureds.

Related: Auto insurance premiums could fall by 30%, Deloittereport says

What does this means for insurers? They'll require newunderwriting capabilities and will be challenged to assess claimsin a more technologically advanced and diverse environment.

Here is an overview of what Deloitte predicts will be the fourfuture states of insurance:

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Future state 1: Personallyowned, driver-driven vehicles

This is the most conservative state, which emphasizes the largeassets tied up in today's system, the report says.

This vision assumes that the owners of these assets won'twillingly abandon them nor invest in new enterprises with uncertainreturns. It sees private ownership remaining the norm, withconsumers opting for the particular forms of privacy, flexibility,security and convenience that come with having their ownvehicles.

And it rejects the possibility that, while driver-assisttechnologies may continue to advance, completely autonomous drivewill become a reality any time soon.

In this state, the traditional model of personal auto insurancewill continue, the vehicle owner will be the primary named insured,and the coverages will be the familiar ones of driver liability,collision and comprehensive.

Related: A look at emerging risks the insurance industry isfacing

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Future state 2: Shared driver-drivenvehicles

This state envisions continued growth of shared access tovehicles, as economic scale and increased competition drive theexpansion of shared vehicle services into new geographicterritories and new consumer segments.

Passengers value the convenience of point-to-pointtransportation and the demonstrated economic benefits of expansivecar-sharing and ride-sharing networks.

Future state 2 shares the human behind the wheel with futurestate 1; however, this group of stakeholders includes fleets (forexample, taxicabs and limos), owner/operators of "black car"services and car rental companies.

The vehicle owner could be an individual or a business, and thecoverage would be for driver, liability, collision, andcomprehensive. In the case of rental vehicles, add liability for avehicle that isn't road-worthy. Uber, Lyft and similar ride-sharingservices would fall in this category.

Related: A crash course in how auto technology is changingclaims

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Future state 3: Personally owned autonomousvehicles

With this state, autonomous drive technology is viable, safe,convenient and economical, but private ownership continues toprevail.

Individuals will use driverless functionality for itsdemonstrated safety, reliability and other ancillary benefits,according to the report, but drivers will continue to own cars formany of the same reasons they do today, such as convenience andpride of ownership.

Future state 3 would require a new product that the report calls"personal autonomous vehicle insurance," or "AV coverage." Theindividual vehicle owner would require coverage for comprehensiveand liability (that is, roadworthiness) while the AV systemmanufacturer or the operating system provider would require acommercial policy that includes AV product liability.

Related: Self-driving cars: Who's liable when software is atthe wheel?

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Future state 4: Shared autonomousvehicles

This state is the result of a convergence of both autonomoustechnology and shared mobility.

Mobility management companies offer a range of passengerexperiences to meet varied needs at differentiated price points.The earliest adopters are likely to be urban passengers, the reportnotes, because few of them own cars now, and they're credited withthe popularity of ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft. Assmart infrastructure expands, the report predicts that fleets ofautonomous shared vehicles could spread to densely populatedsuburbs and beyond.

In future state 4, all stakeholders would have commercial AVinsurance. The vehicle owner — likely a commercial enterprise —would require comprehensive and liability insurance. The AV systemmanufacturer or the operating system provider in this state alsowould require a commercial policy that includes AV productliability.

(Photo: iStock)

New opportunities

What do the future states mean for insurers? They have anopportunity to unbundle coverages and repackage them to meet theneeds of new customers, the report suggests.

It's also a time of reinvention as carriers could incorporatecoverage into other products and services or distribute coverageusing new technology channels. The report predicts thatself-insurance could emerge as a dominant model for large shared(both driver-driven and autonomous) vehicle fleets.

It also predicts that the ratio of personal to commercial autopolicies will begin to shift as shared vehicles become moreprevalent than individually-owned vehicles.

Related: Tech transforming economy and exposures insurerscover