By Ethan Lou
TORONTO, July 6 (Reuters) - Ontario's program to allow
testing of self-driving cars on public roads has not received
any applications since it launched Jan. 1, the Canadian
province's government said on Wednesday, as a recent U.S.
accident increased scrutiny of the technology.
Ontario, home to nearly all of Canada's auto industry, said
last year it would be the first province to allow testing of
self-driving cars. Ontario's auto sector has struggled as
investment shifted to cheaper jurisdictions, and the government
has sought to attract higher paying research and development
work.
But the province is a late-comer compared with parts of the
United States, where Alphabet Inc's GOOGL.O subsidiary Google
has been testing self-driving prototypes since 2009.
Debate about the safety of driverless cars heated up last
week after driver of a Tesla Motors Inc TSLA.O car in
autopilot mode was killed in a collision.
A spokesman from Ontario's Ministry of Transportation said
the self-driving car program has a 10-year time frame and has
received a lot of interest despite the lack of applications.
Ontario confirmed the lack of applications after Reuters
learned about it through a freedom-of-information request.
The province said last year nearly 100 companies and other
organizations were already working in the connected vehicle and
automated vehicle industry in Ontario, and its driverless-car
program would enable them to keep research local.
But some car companies with plants in Ontario are still
favoring the United States.
Honda Motor Co Ltd 7267.T , which does research on
autonomous vehicles in the United States, said it had no plans
to participate.
Canadian auto parts supplier Magna International Inc MG.TO
said that in most cases it is testing self-driving car
technology on closed circuits.
General Motors Co (NYSE:GM) GM.N said in June it would expand its
Canadian engineering base to add 700 jobs in Ontario as it
boosts research spending on connected and driverless cars. It
did not immediately respond to questions on whether will
participate in Ontario's program.
A spokesman for Google, which has agreed to work with Fiat
Chrysler Automobiles NV FCHA.MI FCAU.N to build a fleet of
100 self-driving minivans, said the company is not participating
in Ontario's program, though he said the province was taking the
right steps. Chrysler declined to comment.
(Editing by Steve Orlofsky)