A report by News Optimist, Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) in the province of Saskatchewan in Canada, has been looking at the future of electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles. The minister responsible for the SGI, Joe Hargrave and SGI CEO Andrew Cartmell, spoke to News Optimist reporters on July 9 in Regina–whilst presenting SGI annual reports.
They were both asked about the behavior of autonomous vehicles in Saskatchewan. Cartmell replied to this by saying “We’ve begun to work with the government on putting regulations and legislation in place,” and “making them more prevalent on our roads”. Autonomous vehicle legislation has started to be reviewed within the agricultural sector. A Saskatchewan company had recently designed autonomous agricultural vehicles.
Cartmell said that the SGI was actively working with the province on putting the right regulation and legislation in place so we’re prepared when they become more common”. Those in favor of autonomous vehicles believe they will be a lot safer than human drivers. This reduces insurance costs; which Hargrave believes will be “very beneficial for the insurance industry and for accidents and injuries”.
The SGI CEO was asked if a $100,000 Tesla would be repaired if it was in an accident. He replied, “I guess it really depends on the extent of damage and where the damage occurs on the vehicle”. With electric car accidents increasing, many repair shops are having to take special attention when dealing with batteries to avoid electrocution.
Hargrave was also asked whether you could use Tesla’s Autopilot legally on the roads of Saskatchewan. His answer to that was “That’s definitely, definitely not allowed”.
While that may be the case on record, numerous Tesla owners in Saskatchewan have been testing the latest version of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving version of Autopilot, which recently saw a software update to let the vehicle detect and stop at traffic lights, as seen in the video above by SaskTesla.
