Waymo is preparing to bring fully autonomous ride-hailing to Toronto, setting a 2028 goal for its first Canadian robotaxi passengers.
Waymo said on October 16 that its vehicles would begin appearing on Toronto streets in the following days, initially driven manually by trained autonomous specialists while the company builds high-definition maps and validates its system for local conditions.
Waymo’s Toronto rollout follows the phased approach it has used in other markets: manual driving, then testing with a specialist in the vehicle, then driverless operations, and only after that public ride-hailing. The company says Toronto riders would eventually hail trips through the Waymo app once service opens.
On its Canada signup page, Waymo says testing will take place across select neighbourhoods, including St. Lawrence Market, Harbourfront, Roncesvalles Village, Parkdale, Liberty Village, Don Mills, Yorkdale, Leaside, East York, Summerhill, Yonge and Eglinton, Weston, Mimico and Etobicoke. The company says testing typically runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week so the system can encounter different road conditions.
Ontario approval covers testing, not a public launch
Waymo says it has received an official provincial permit from Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation to participate in the Automated Vehicle Pilot Program and begin manual driving and testing. The company also says it will continue working with regulators to keep the required permits in place through each phase.
That distinction is central to the timeline. Ontario’s public AV pilot page says the program has been extended until Oct. 13, 2027, while Waymo’s first-rider target is 2028. The available public information confirms approval for the early testing phase; it does not yet answer every regulatory question for a passenger service two years from now.
Toronto’s role is also limited. City information says highly automated vehicles on public roads are regulated by the province, not by a Toronto-specific automated-vehicle bylaw. A 2025 City of Toronto staff report said Ontario Regulation 306/15 does not provide for municipal approval or allow municipalities to opt out of a deployment approved by the province.
The operating partner is local
Waymo is partnering with Element Fleet Management, a Toronto-headquartered company, to provide end-to-end fleet management services. Waymo says the Toronto buildout is expected to support hundreds of roles over time in fleet maintenance, validation driving, customer service and other operations functions.
The company says it will start with a limited number of all-electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles and scale gradually.
Toronto will test the technology and the operating model
Waymo has built a much larger operating base in the United States. The company says the Waymo Driver has completed more than 450 million fully autonomous kilometres on public roads and now provides hundreds of thousands of weekly trips across 15 major U.S. cities. TechCrunch reported that the company is also testing in London and Tokyo.
Toronto adds a different kind of test. The city brings dense downtown streets, mixed traffic, construction, winter conditions and neighbourhood layouts that are not identical to Waymo’s existing U.S. markets. Waymo says its current system uses lidar, cameras, radar and AI for 360-degree coverage, and says its sixth-generation hardware includes mechanisms designed for snowier and icier conditions.
Those claims will still have to be proven locally. Ontario’s pilot application materials require participants to address issues including cybersecurity risks, disengagement reporting, collision reporting, insurance, and how driverless vehicles interact with emergency vehicles, police and construction zones. In practice, the Toronto rollout is not only a test of whether the car can drive. It is also a test of how the service fits into city operations and provincial oversight.
Several details are still missing
The exact public launch date and several rider-facing details remain unpublished.
- Whether the first public service area will cover downtown only or a wider section of the city.
- How many vehicles will be available at launch.
- How rides will be priced compared with taxis, ride-hailing and transit.
- Whether airport trips will be included in the first phase.
- How winter storms and construction detours will affect service availability.
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