One Canadian City is Saying ‘No’ to Self-Driving Car Testing
Jennifer van der Kleut
Every day, more and more cities across the globe are saying Yes to testing and preparing for autonomous transportation. However, it appears Vancouver, Canada will not be one of them-at least, not any time soon.
News outlets are reporting that Transportation Minister Todd Stone says British Columbia has no plans to test self-driving vehicles on public roads in the province any time soon.
Furthermore, he is warning cities across the province that they do not have free reign to begin testing without the federal government’s approval.
“I don’t believe the City of Vancouver has regulatory authority over the operation of motor vehicles, that’s a provincial authority, and safety standards is a federal role,” Stone said, according to CBC News.
MetroNews Canada says Stone is not against driverless cars; he says, rather, he is “keenly interested” in the technology and its potential transportation benefits, but that there’s much more discussion that needs to take place within the government before that can or should happen.
Stone also acknowledged that other provinces across Canada-such as Ontario-are already moving forward with testing, and said that perhaps British Columbia should see how that turns out first.
“Our preference at the moment in British Columbia is to stand pat and just keep a close eye on these other jurisdictions,” he said, according to MetroNews Canada. “There probably will come a day where driverless vehicles will be on roads across North America. For us, safety will be the most important consideration.”
MetroNews reports that, last week, Transport Minister Marc Garneau asked the Senate to “launch a study of the regulatory, policy and technical issues” associated with driverless vehicles so that Canada does not miss out on the potential benefits.
Vancouver City Councillor Geoff Meggs appeared to be disappointed in Stone’s statement, and said he wishes the city and province would be more proactive in exploring the valuable technology.
“It would be great to see the province step forward in a more comprehensive way because I think all the municipalities will be asking questions about it,” he said, according to CBC News.