Canadian Legislative News

Autonomous vehicle technology is advancing rapidly, and consumers and regulators are having difficulty keeping up with the pace of change. From an economic standpoint, Canada continues to seek a regulatory regime that enables the technology to continue to develop, without fundamentally altering Canada’s roadways in the short- to medium term. It is a challenging balancing act that will have ramifications for fleets for decades to come.

The mass proliferation of fully-autonomous vehicles on Canadian roads is many years away. Automation in automotive is classified in many stages, with currently-available features like adaptive cruise control and self-parking cars residing between stage one and two.

"From a regulatory point of view, we are running hard to keep up with this developing technology. It is absolutely critical that we do it," Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau recently said. "What we don't want is to slow down this technological development, but at the same time, we have to make sure that our streets remain safe."

Presently, only Ontario is allowing autonomous vehicles on its roads, with a very small number of approvals granted thus far. But that number is certain to grow, and the jurisdictions that allow it to happen will also increase in future years. Canada remains behind the U.S. in this regard, where autonomous vehicles currently drive the streets in at least 17 states, with real-world pilot projects not merely confined to lab-like testing sites.

Whether industry, government, or consumers like it or not, driverless technology is coming and must contend with the evolving regulatory and legislative requirements this will entail.