Ontario Fails To Attract Applications For On-Road Autonomous Testing

Despite becoming Canada’s first province to allow self-driving cars on its roads, Ontario has yet to receive any applications.

Ontario, home to nearly all of Canada’s auto industry, is still considered a late-comer as far as autonomous development is concerned – especially compared to certain parts of the United States where self-driving prototypes have been in the works since 2009.

The province’s government announced this setback on Wednesday, at a time when the recent US accident which resulted in one fatality, led to increased scrutiny regarding self-driving tech.

According to Autonews, a spokesman from Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation said that their autonomous car program has a 10-year time frame, so while they may not have received any application, general interest is still strong.

The lack of applications was confirmed after Reuters learned about it through a freedom-of-information request.

While nearly 100 Ontario-based companies and other organizations have been working in the connected & automated vehicle industry, automakers are still favoring the United States. Canadian auto parts suppliers such as Magna International even confirmed that most of their tests regarding self-driving car technology is being conducted on closed circuits.

So far, Honda and Google have confirmed they will not be participating in Ontario’s program, while GM and Chrysler have yet to comment.