City council is working towards starting automated vehicle testing in Edmonton at the beginning of 2019.

A regulatory provincial framework on how to operate automated vehicles safely and effectively is expected to be completed in June. For now, testing must be carried out on private land and closed public roads.

Ward 1 Councillor Andrew Knack, who brought up the topic during a December council meeting and asked for a report on the matter, wants the provincial government to relax testing rules.

“That’s part of what we wanted to see – the province to make some changes so we can start testing because this is dramatically shift a lot of what we do as a city and as a society,” Knack told CTV News. “We’ve been wanting to do testing, but the rules are so strict right now that they really don’t make testing viable for anyone.”

Northern hotbed

Knack believes Edmonton has developed a reputation for embracing innovative technologies. Google’s DeepMind opened its first research lab outside of the United Kingdom in Edmonton last year, and the city was the first to accept ridesharing apps like Uber in Canada. The Ward 1 councillor wants Edmonton to be the winter city where tech companies test their self-driving projects.

“Where I think obviously we have a unique challenge, but it also presents a unique opportunity, is our winter climate, and does this encourage companies who are doing this testing say, ‘we really need a northern city test bed,’ and I think that’s where Edmonton could really stand to play a role in this," Knack said.

Magnovate proposed an autonomous magnet train in place between downtown and Whyte Avenue or out to the airport. The company said magnetic trains and less expensive and more efficient than conventional trains.

Safety issues

There are safety concerns around automated vehicles. The first fatal collision involving a fully self-driving vehicle occurred on March 20.

Knack cited the collision numbers in Canada – nearly 2,000 in 2015 – and believes automated vehicles would reduce fatal crashes.

“I don’t think there’s even been any research to suggest that self-driving vehicles would be perfect,” he said. “What I think the research shows is that it can react far quicker than you and I. They can process significantly more information in a shorter amount of time. A lot of the research suggests that it’s likely to be a 80 to 90 per cent reduction in serious and injury-based collisions and fatalities.”

The Automated Vehicles Conference will take place in Edmonton on June 6 and 7.

With files from Jeremy Thompson