‘Unprecedented’ collaboration necessary for connected cars: lawyer

OTTAWA — Canada must develop a national policy and form a multi-party committee involving different levels of government to help inform decisions on autonomous and connected cars, a Senate committee heard Tuesday. “An unprecedented amount of coordination and collaboration is required across various industry sectors or, perhaps most importantly, across various levels of government, governmental agencies, both within Canada and across our southern border and internationally,” Robert Love, a lawyer in the automotive sector group at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG), told members of the Senate’s transport and communications committee. For the past couple of months, the committee has been studying the issues associated with the deployment of connected and autonomous vehicles. So far, it has heard from various parties including the privacy commissioner, an intelligence official and the department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED). “Leadership from government ought to take the form of clear policy statements and regulatory action where required,” Love said in his presentation, suggesting that Transport Canada, having jurisdiction over the safety of motor vehicles, must take the lead on developing such a policy, which would guide Canada’s strategic direction on connected cars. “Specifically, in terms of what they see where the industry should go,” Love added of Transport Canada’s task. But Love noted that Transport Canada can’t just wade into provincial jurisdiction on the issue and would need to bring the provinces to the table. As such, Love, who was presenting alongside BLG intellectual property lawyer Kevin LaRoche, recommended a “cross-governmental agency” whose members would include municipal, provincial and federal officials, because “I don’t think there is any one who can take the lead and do so in an authoritative capacity.” He added that he doesn’t see a reason why Transport Canada hasn’t issued a statement that aligns with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which has already developed both a cyber security and federal automated vehicles policy. “The motor vehicle industry is so closely connected with the U.S.,” Love said. “They should be harmonized so that a vehicle produced in Canada can be shipped across the border to the U.S.” with little modifications needed. “We need the free-flow of trade back and forth between them,” he added. Love gave the example of the United States’ policy approach that provides guidelines for equipment manufacturers to incorporate technologies that would allow for vehicle-to-vehicle communications. “We can’t be slow off the mark here,” Love added of Canada’s position. “Canada was seen as a leader… I think we’re starting to lag a little behind,” noting Michigan’s own self-driving car initiative. The policy position that would eventually be hashed out would partly involve determining what areas would require “significant” regulation — with LaRoche flagging cyber security — and those that won’t require as much. The policy would also address new technologies going forward, such as vehicle-to-infrastructure navigation, involving technology embedded in infrastructure beside roads, which LaRoche said will become a public utility. But LaRoche shared concerns about the issue of cyber security and said that recent developments in the U.S., such as congress voting to repeal privacy measures for Internet service providers, means Canada still needs to be vigilant to ensure privacy. “As quickly as we move toward common standards with the United States in the physical attributes of autonomous vehicles — to ensure they’re all operating on the same standards, on the same wavelengths, etc. — we have to, at the same time, be making sure that there are designed into the system safeguards for private information,” LaRoche said. — With reporting by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

‘Unprecedented’ collaboration necessary for connected cars: lawyer

News | April 11, 2017

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‘Unprecedented’ collaboration necessary for connected cars: lawyer

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