CTLA Feature Articles and Case Notes
Autonomous Vehicles and the Trucking Industry in Canada Pui Hong*
Someone asked me at the beginning of 2020 what I thought would be the next big disruptor in the motor carrier business. I knew it had something to do with the two buzzwords “technology” and “innovation” but I couldn’t pinpoint anything in particular. Would it be highly advanced sensors and cameras that would significantly decrease safety incidents? Would the industry move towards vehicles that reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Would there be some kind of technological advancement that would help alleviate driver shortages plaguing the industry? Fast forward twenty months and there seems to be one technological innovation that covers all three – autonomous vehicles. Autonomous vehicles (“AV”) have been on the mind of those in the automotive industry and governments for a number of years. In 2015, CAVCOE (formerly the Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre of Excellence) prepared an unsolicited white paper for the Government of Canada describing the opportunities and challenges in incorporating AVs into Canadian society as well as providing recommendations on implementation and incorporation1. In 2016, the province of Ontario launched a ten-year pilot program to allow the testing of AVs on Ontario’s roads. On September 13, 2017, the American Trucking Associations, Inc. (“ATA”) testified before the Senate Commerce Hearing on Transportation * Trimac Transportation, Calgary
Innovation: Automated Trucks and our Nation’s Highways regarding, among other things, the positive impact AVs will have on the trucking industry2. The following month, the ATA issued its first Automated Truck Policy for the development of automated trucks3. Additionally, the provinces of Ontario and Alberta launched cooperative truck platooning pilot programs (January 1, 2019, and March 1, 2021, respectively) to test vehicle-to-vehicle communication technology under specific conditions along specified routes. While fully autonomous trucks (SAE Level 5 tech) will likely not be a reality on public roadways for a while, the use of AVs with SAE Level 3 and lower automation4 will support drivers by improving safety, lowering fuel burn and emissions, and reducing traffic congestion5. Increased use of AVs will also help with the issues of increased insurance costs and driver shortages.
Insurance Costs and Liability
Truck insurance in Canada has continued to rise over the past few years. According to the Traffic Injury Research Foundation, more than 90% of road crashes are a result of human error or condition6. In 2018, the number of motor vehicle fatalities in Canada was 1,922, up 3.6% from 20177. Todd MacGillivray, Northbridge Insurance Vice President of Transportation and Logistics was quoted as saying that the “[trucking] business has been unprofitable for an extended period of time”8. The increasing cost of claims is a major contributing factor to this reality. In Canada in 2018, the average claim for property damage alone was $20,917. Where injuries were involved, the amount rose to $270,222, and where there was a fatality, it rose to almost $5 million9. The cost to run cross-border
further increases insurance costs especially with the nuclear verdicts juries are awarding to plaintiffs in U.S. courts. To combat increasing insurance costs, carriers are looking to technology to decrease safety incidents. The most common safety features of commercial vehicles today include forward collision warning, lane departure warning, and blind spot monitoring. Many carriers are also utilising fleet safety and risk management systems including outward facing cameras that record footage for a period of time before and after a recordable incident such as hard braking, hard turns, and speeding. In using available technology, carriers hope to decrease the number of traffic accidents and the cost of any damage sustained in addition to decreasing the severity of injuries sustained. This technology is a precursor to the development of semi and full AV. With changes to technology and driving behaviour come changes to liability frameworks. Auto insurance in Canada is provincially/territorially regulated in Canada; accordingly, any changes to the way insurance is provided in Canada will require changes to the legislation of each province and territory10. There will be different challenges in determining liability and fault at different stages of AV deployment: (1) SAE Level 2 and 3 vehicles sharing the road with conventional vehicles; (2) SAE Level 4 and 5 vehicles sharing the road with conventional vehicles; and (3) Level 4 and 5 vehicles dominating the roads11. In the first stage where SAE Level 2 and 3 vehicles are sharing the road with conventional vehicles, the challenge will be in distinguishing between driver liability and vehicle liability12. Additionally, it is unclear how liability and fault will be shared in situations where both driver error and vehicle technology
60 Transportation Lawyers Association • Canadian Transport Lawyers Association • October 2021, Vol. 23, No. 2
