Driverless cars: a project to study in Ontario

(Ottawa) The driverless cars on Canada’s roads? The idea is already in his small Ontario merry way, where since January 1, an ambitious pilot project was launched to test the new technology. But the federal Minister of Transport Marc Garneau wants a parliamentary committee evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of having automated vehicles on the roads.

Mr. Garneau testified Wednesday before the Committee on Transport and Communications of the Senate to explain the main priorities of his ministry. In passing, he invited members of the Senate committee to conduct a comprehensive study on the use of automated vehicles.

While technology giants like Google have already used driverless cars on over a million kilometers in California and Texas, Ontario last October became the first jurisdiction in Canada to allow testing of such vehicles on its roads. The pilot project began in early January and should be spread over 10 years.

According to Minister Marc Garneau, automated cars could be the way forward. The automaker Toyota announced last fall that he cherishes the ambition to market a car without a driver in Japan 2020. And the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers predicts also that autonomous vehicles will account 75% of all vehicles on the road by 2040 ….

But before we get there, Mr. Garneau believes the government has a duty to examine this issue from several angles. Hence his decision to invite the Senate committee to conduct a study in due form.

“This is a new field that is booming. There is a lot of research and there is a need to address issues of regulations, responsibilities, respect for privacy because many of the technologies used in wireless use and can be intercepted. I think the expertise of the Senate committee would be put to use in my ministry and my mandate, “Mr. Garneau said in an interview with La Presse.

“This is a technology that is new. We are all used to drive our own cars. But there is a lot of potential. automobile accidents could be reduced. In 2013, collisions on Canadian roads have over 1,900 deaths and over 10,000 seriously injured. So the advantage of an automated vehicle is that the person does not fall asleep at the wheel, the person is never drunk driving, then this may be safer and reduce auto accidents significantly ” , added the Minister.

Mr. Garneau, who is willing to test an automated vehicle if the opportunity arises, also believes that this could reduce the environmental impact of cars. “There are a lot of people driving inefficiently between the pedal on the gas pedal and the brake. There is a lot of waste gas, “said he said.

In Ontario, where the heart of the automotive industry in Canada, the Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne believes the pilot project that began on January 1 could yield long-term dividends for the sector. His government has also decided to invest $ 500,000 more in the research program on connected and autonomous vehicles, in addition to funding of $ 2.45 million already allocated.

In the Kitchener-Waterloo, a hundred companies are already hard at work in the automated vehicle sector, according to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. So the pilot project will enable them to conduct research and development activities in the province instead of traveling to the US for example to perform large-scale tests on the roads.

OPERATION

Automated vehicles can detect the surrounding environment thanks to artificial intelligence, sensors and contact information provided by the positioning system. So they can circulate without driver. In Ontario, the government, however, agreed to launch the pilot project provided a driver remains in the vehicle to take control if a glitch occurs.

The Ontario government has argued that the connected and autonomous vehicles could improve energy efficiency and reduce traffic congestion, emissions of greenhouse gas and accidents caused by human distraction.