In a matter of months, residents of Ontario might start seeing drivers that are seemingly driving without even touching the wheel.
Ontario has announced that it will be opening up its roads to companies creating autonomous cars starting on Jan. 1, 2016, making the city one of the few where companies can test their cars on public roads.
"Many major companies around the world have already developed automated prototypes and are testing driverless cars in Europe, Asia, and the United States," said Ontario Minister of Transportation Steven Del Duca. "In order to compete, Ontario needs to be consistent with the approach of U.S. jurisdictions and we need to step up."
Of course, a number of states in the U.S. have already opened up their public roads for self-driving car testing, however, Ontario is now the first province in Canadian province to do just that. Companies will obviously have to register cars and report any incidents.
Testing the vehicles on public roads is an important step for car companies that want to take their cars beyond the lab. Doing so allows these companies to test their cars in situations that otherwise would not occur in the lab, meaning they can collect more data to tweak the car's software and make it safer. One advantage to testing in Ontario rather than California, for example, is that companies will be able to test cars in very snowy conditions.
Canada itself has a number of autonomous car companies, like ClearPath Robotics, which has teamed up with General Electric to build a number of self-driving robots for factories.
Regulators in Ontario will hold a roundtable discussion with industry leaders to discuss how Ontario can support the growing autonomous car industry.
Via: Motherboard
