Tesla has confirmed that they’re aiming to launch the Cybertruck in Canada later this year. Transport Canada recently granted Tesla and the Cybertruck a unique exemption to allow steer-by-wire functionality (h/t Sawyer Merritt).
Steer-By-Wire Exemption
We previously reported that the Cybertruck was facing delays due to a steer-by-wire regulatory issue with Transport Canada. On Friday, July 19th, Transport Canada issued a message stating that they would exempt the Cybertruck, for all its models, from part of Canada’s Motor Vehicle Safety Act, which currently doesn’t permit the usage of steer-by-wire systems.
The period that the exemption begins seems to be immediate – July 19th, 2024, and will last through July 18th, 2029, whereafter regulation should supersede the exemption. In the meantime, Tesla will provide a semi-annual incident report, beginning on January 18th, 2025, including information on steering system malfunctions or failures, as well as corrective measures and customer complaints.
It seems that Transport Canada will also have to be notified every time Cybertruck’s steering software is provided with an OTA update, which could result in some update delays in Canada.
Canadian Cybertruck Soon?
With all this information, it sounds like Tesla is aiming to launch the Cybertruck to Canadian customers sometime relatively soon, as they stated they’re still aiming by the end of the year. There is a good chance that they may begin converting pre-orders to orders once Tesla. Tesla hasn’t commented on which model will be available in Canada, but it wouldn’t surprise us if it’s limited to the Foundation series in Canada in the initial release.
We could expect the first customer Cybertrucks (Roshel Defence and a few private importers notwithstanding), to be on Canadian roads in just a couple of months.
