Tesla, Inc. has a history of pushing new technology out the door before the rest of the industry can catch up - and arguably, before the world is ready for it. Take Tesla's Autopilot system, for instance, which just about set the motoring world on fire when it first came out, before a series of fatal high-profile crashes involving misuse prompted some backlash.

Now, Tesla has set its sights on beating the rest of the industry to market with an autonomous rideshare service - the sort of service that Ford, Uber, and numerous other competitors are eyeing, as well. Tesla aims to roll out the service this year, and as electrek now reports, the Palo Alto-based EV manufacturer will account for the liabilities by using its own in-house insurance to cover owners.

That detail might be key to getting the whole thing to work, as the Tesla Network will rely on individual owners volunteering their cars for autonomous rideshare duty, meaning they might otherwise have to use their own policies. Such a use case would undoubtedly be expensive, if indeed private insurers could account for it at all.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk explained during last month's earnings call that "a lot of" the high cost of insurance "is just because the insurance companies don't have good information about the drivers, and... it's a very poor feedback mechanism in terms of the insurance rates versus the actual way that the car is being driven." Conversely, he says, Tesla can gather detailed information "in real time."

"It's a fundamental information advantage that insurance companies don't have," he said.

Tesla's OEM-provided insurance first launch in Australia and Hong Kong before making its way to North America - although only in California, for now. The company claims they can reduce insurance costs for Tesla owners by as much as 30 percent, and Tesla CFO Zach Kirkhorn confirmed during the call that Tesla aims "to allow people to put their cars into ride sharing or the FSD network using Tesla Insurance."

"It's not currently the case, but by the time [the network] is available, it's our intent to get [the insurance] ready," he added.

So, if you were looking for another excuse to buy a Tesla Model 3, it's worth considering: not only might the car be able to earn you money in its downtime, but you might even be able to save on insurance, too.