Toronto is set to become the first Canadian city to host Waymo’s fully autonomous taxi service. The California-based Alphabet subsidiary has announced plans to launch its driverless robotaxis in Canada's largest metropolis by 2028. The city joins London, Tokyo and Singapore as spots marked with tacks on the company’s world conquest map.
Automated Vehicle Pilot Program
Initial groundwork begins in the coming days under Ontario’s Automated Vehicle Pilot Program. During this preliminary phase, Waymo will deploy vehicles equipped with human specialists behind the wheel to build high-definition road maps and gather local traffic data.
What about winter, you ask?
Operating in Toronto will serve as a rigorous test for the Waymo Driver autonomous system, which relies on a suite of cameras, radar, lidar and artificial intelligence to maintain a 360-degree view of its surroundings.
Waymo currently operates in warm-weather U.S. markets such as Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami, and Las Vegas, but it has also logged autonomous testing in cold-climate cities including Detroit and Denver. Adapting the software to handle Toronto's winter conditions, snow, slush and dense urban traffic remains a primary objective during the testing phase.
To manage ground operations, Waymo is expanding its existing partnership with Toronto-based Element Fleet Management. That firm will oversee local vehicle maintenance, depot charging infrastructure, customer support and fleet logistics. The expansion is expected to create hundreds of local jobs over time, supported by Canadian backers including Magna and CPP Investments.
What about Waymo’s safety record, you ask?
Waymo’s autonomous fleet currently logs over 500,000 paid rides per week across more than 15 cities, racking up over 400 million test kilometres (250 million miles). According to company safety data, its autonomous vehicles are involved in 95 percent fewer serious injury crashes than human drivers.
What about regulatory approvals for driverless cars, you ask?
Waymo’s planned expansion has garnered praise from accessibility organizations like CNIB for providing independent transportation. But an important detail remains un-ironed out, one that has to do with provincial legislation. Ontario currently lacks a regulatory framework for fully driverless commercial ride-hailing services, meaning provincial policymakers must draft and enact new rules before passengers can hail a driverless ride.
Let’s assume there’s a plan to have that wrinkle removed by 2028.