Senators urge Liberals to act on privacy, security issues with automated cars

The committee also said the government must invest more in its own research to deal with questions of safety, such as how to ensure a driverless car can safely navigate a snow-covered road.

Sen. Dennis Dawson, the chairman of the committee, said government action must be stronger than in the United States, but must also strike a balance to prevent spilling over into the private sector.

“We’re not trying to stifle progress, and we can’t,” Dawson said.

“The Americans … believe that we should trust enterprise, and I believe that we should trust enterprise, but the government in Canada has a more interventionist role and we want them to be able to plan on how they’re going to be using that power.”

The committee unveiled its 16 recommendations on the same day that Transport Minister Marc Garneau met with his provincial and territorial counterparts in Ottawa. The group agreed to work on a plan to allow for automated cars on Canadian roads, and a federal plan will be made public in the coming months, Garneau said.

Speaking after the meeting, Garneau said he intends to make sure governments don’t fall behind. “We have to certainly work as quickly as possible, but we will not do so if it means sacrificing safety, which I think is paramount for Canadians.”

Fully autonomous vehicles may still be a decade or more away, but companies are already testing prototypes on Canadian and American roads. Carmakers have also introduced assisted-driving features on newer model cars like adaptive cruise control and automated parking.

The committee’s report, which Garneau requested shortly after taking office, said that self-driving cars could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, boost productivity and limit the number of collisions caused by human error.

But it could also lead to job losses in transportation sectors where some 1.1 million people are employed, including truck, bus, and taxi drivers. The Liberals, the committee said, must put in place job re-training programs for those whose jobs will be affected, and ensure sectors like after-market companies can maintain a foothold as new, automated cars hit the roads.

Jordan Press, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Senators urge Liberals to act on privacy, security issues with automated cars

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