Toronto, Ontario — In this weekly electric and autonomous vehicle report, Canada’s 2024 Federal budget reveals plans to extend the life of electric vehicle (EV) rebates; while Waymo announces the beginnings of robotaxi testing in Atlanta, Georgia.
Revving up rebates
The 2024 Federal budget, released on April 16th, included a section dedicated to ensuring “More Affordable Electric Vehicles” for Canadian citizens.
The section specifically noted that “as Canada builds its electric vehicle supply chain, which is leading the world and creating more good paying jobs, the government is helping Canadians make the shift to cleaner, zero-emission vehicles.”
Specifically, as part of this effort, the 2024 budget aims to provide $607.9 million dollars over two years, starting in the 2024 to 2025 period, to Transport Canada to “top-up” incentives for zero-emission vehicle programming.
This federal rebate is available to all provinces and works on top of any other provincial rebates.
The budget report further noted that “since the Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles program launched in 2019, zero-emission vehicles have increased as a share of all new vehicle sales from three percent to 11 percent in 2023, as supported by the program’s rebate of up to $5,000. From 2019 to September 2023, Canadians purchased or leased over 450,000 zero-emission vehicles.”
To view the full 2024 budget report, click here.
Going down to Georgia
Waymo, the American autonomous driving technology company, has announced that it has begun testing its robotaxis in Atlanta, Georgia.
Over the next few months, the company will reportedly deploy a handful of cars—to be driven by humans—to gather mapping data of the city.
From here, Waymo hopes to test its robotaxis in the state without a safety driver in the front seat to ensure the vehicle stays on program.
Previously, Waymo began giving driverless rides to employees only in Austin, Texas in March, but plans to open up the service to the public later this year, with hopes to expand the possibility to states such as Georgia as well.
Despite current efforts, Georgia currently does not have any regulations in place to restrict autonomous vehicles. If Waymo decided, the company could put driverless vehicles on the roads, but for now, is still opting for safety testing.
The post EV/AV Report: Canada extends EV rebates; while Waymo begins robotaxi testing in Atlanta appeared first on Collision Repair Magazine.
