Late September brought the tragic news of another train crash — this one at theHoboken train station in New Jersey.

If anyone missed the coverage, one person was killed and over100 were injured as the train rammed through the station bumpers athigh speed, causing the roof to collapse, wreaking havoc andmayhem.

Another vehicle crash earlier in the year got major attention asa Tesla Model S auto malfunctioned and crashedinto a truck in Florida, killing the driver. These are not the onlyincidents of this kind.

A similar crash at the same Hoboken station occurred just fiveyears ago, while other Tesla vehicles in autopilot mode havecrashed, causing serious injuries (most notably in China andGermany). However, comparing the recent Hoboken train crash and theFlorida Tesla crash provides some valuable lessons regarding ourautonomous future. 

Full automation vs. no automation

The causes of these two terrible tragedies were in some wayscompletely opposite. The Tesla crash was caused by full automationwith no human involvement, while the Hoboken disaster was caused byfull reliance on the human engineer using no automation.

For both types of situations, hybrid solutions exist. In theTesla case, drivers using autopilot today have the ability to takecontrol of the wheel in emergency situations. For commuter trains,Positive Train Control (PTC) system technology is available toallow the machine to take control if the driver is incapacitated orfails to make the right decisions.

There are certainly political issues related to the PTC systemsas well as regulatory issues surrounding autonomous vehicles likeTesla. But it is not the intent of this blog to debate those.However, the topic of human versus machine decisioning comes intostark focus when examining these two cases.

Huge implications for the insurance industry

The reality is that neither humans or machines are infallible.And the debates about human vs. machine decision-making forvehicles will only intensify as we enter an era where there will bemore and more autonomous features built into every machine thatmoves on land, air, and sea.

Autonomous vessels, drones, trucks, and vehicles of all kindswill increasingly have features that are aimed at improving safetyand reducing or eliminating the role of human operators. The mix ofvehicles with autonomous and semi-autonomous features, theevolution of the artificial intelligence systems guiding theautomation, and the new types of vehicles expected on the road willall contribute to a long period of change in transportation.

Related: Keeping the human touch as AI takes hold ininsurance

The implications for the insurance industry and society at largeare huge. A future with the potential for dramatically reducedaccidents, injuries, and death is on the horizon. In the meantime,thoughtful debate, testing, regulation, and technology updates willbe required to successfully guide us into the autonomous time tocome. 

Mark Breading is partner atBoston-based SMA. Emailhim at [email protected].This article first appeared on StrategyMeetsAction.com and isreprinted here with their permission. Opinions expressed in thisarticle are the author's own.