Most companies are unprepared for the emergence of autonomous vehicles (AVs), according to a new survey by Munich Re.

The German reinsurer questioned corporate risk managers at April’s Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) conference in San Diego.

About 65% say their companies have done nothing to prepare for the emergence of autonomous vehicles, despite the potential business impact.

Of those that have made preparations, 23% have discussed the new technology internally, 8% have established a taskforce and 4% have created an operational plan.

According to global consultant McKinsey & Company, consumers will begin to adopt AVs in 2020 and they will be the primary mode of transportation by 2050.

Munich Re America President and CEO Tony Kuczinski says adoption may come sooner than many people realise.

“With innovative companies making significant strides in the development of self-driving cars, it’s no longer a matter of if but rather when the time will come for the wide-scale adoption of AVs,” he said.

“It’s important for companies to start preparing now for how this technology could potentially impact their business, to both leverage opportunities and most effectively mitigate risks.”

More than half of the survey respondents said cyber security is the greatest insurance concern associated with AVs, followed by allocation of liability when autonomous and non-autonomous vehicles share roads (27%), economic disruption (7%), safety (7%) and the cost of technology to repair damaged vehicles (4%).

Mr Kuczinski says Munich Re is examining the cyber-security issue, because the vulnerability and implementation of safeguards for AVs “remains to be seen”.

From a cyber-security perspective, 42% of respondents believe the greatest threat to AVs is theft via hacking, while 36% cite failure of smart road technology.

When questioned on the greatest challenge to widespread adoption of AVs, 41% of risk managers cite regulatory or legislative issues, 24% safety, 19% security of technology, 11% cost and 5% the ability to function in all weather and road conditions.