We are the latecomers, and I think there are two reasons for that. I don't want to get too much into politics. I'm an engineer. I don't know much about politics, but I feel up until now we've not had enough of a focus on innovation, and that shows up in the results.
I look at other governments and how they are supporting their high-tech industry in this area. Let's take the U.K. as an example. The U.K. is doing four things that we are not doing. First of all is funding. The U.K. has put in 100 million pounds into research, development, and testing of autonomous and connected vehicles.
The federal government has, in fact, got some money within Transport Canada for a virtual framework, but the federal government has not funded industry. The best we've done in Canada is Ontario, which has put in $3 million. If you compare $3 million to 100 million pounds, you can really see the bar chart.
Second, the U.K. government has been a real cheerleader. It has set itself up as a target to be the world's go-to place for AV testing.
Third, they have understood the need to break down the silos within different departments. They have created a special government institution called CCAV, the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, which operates across departments. One example of this is that they have taken the policy group from the British version of Transport Canada and they've taken the policy group from the Innovation, Science and Economic Development equivalent, and they've created a single policy group that spans two departments. You get a level of integration and synergy that we're not achieving.
It makes a big difference with those areas. Our technology industry is excellent. It's a cliché; it really is world class, but to be more effective, they need support from government the way that other governments are supporting their tech industries.