Waymo to launch first phase of driverless taxi testing in Toronto with service expected in 2028

Waymo to launch first phase of driverless taxi testing in Toronto with service expected in 2028

Mayor Olivia Chow says she's concerned about safety, whether cars will be held to highest standards

Waymo launching self-driving taxi testing in Toronto

Autonomous vehicle operator Waymo is officially coming to Canada with the driverless ride-hailing service expected to launch in Toronto in 2028, the company says.

Torontonians may start to see vehicles around the city "in the coming days" as the company begins its first phase of testing, Waymo said in a news release Friday.

The California-based company said operations in Toronto will be introduced through a "rigorous, phased, safety-first approach," which will start by mapping local street networks and testing with trained specialists behind the wheel.

Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said the company looks forward to partnering with businesses and communities in the city with a shared commitment "to safer streets and more accessible mobility."

Waymo, owned by Google parent company Alphabet, already has a fleet of all-electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles in 10 major U.S. metropolitan markets. The service operates much like Uber or Lyft, minus the driver.

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The company said its service has been approved to participate in the province's automated vehicle pilot program, which was launched 10 years ago.

Ontario's program initially required a driver in the seat, but that requirement changed in 2019 to allow for driverless vehicles under certain conditions.

Mayor Olivia Chow said her biggest concern is about the safety of Torontonians and ensuring that autonomous vehicles are held to the highest standards. She said legislation permitting the cars is from the province and does not involve the city.

Waymo is not the first autonomous driving project in the city. Last year California-based Gatik began a rollout of 50 autonomous box trucks for Loblaw and Magna International tested its self-driving delivery trucks.

But Magna International's cars were "incapable of making right turns at red lights” and would even reboot in the middle of traffic, according to a letter by city staff to the province.

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Autonomous driving technology has been used in other parts of Ontario and is even being developed by local companies, said Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association.

He said research has found self-driving vehicles operate safely more consistently than vehicles driven by people.

Volpe told CBC Radio's Metro Morning Friday that he's looking forward to seeing how auto jobs, particularly related to the technology in self-driving cars, will continue to advance.

"General Motors has 1,000 engineers [working on] autonomous driving in Oshawa that we never talk about. I'd like to see another 5,000 of those [jobs] here in the Toronto region," he said.

For its Canadian launch, Waymo is partnering with Toronto-based company Element Fleet Management, which will provide maintenance, customer service and other support functions.

The arrival of autonomous ride-hailing could present a threat to companies with human hands at the wheel, or to drivers' job security. But some California companies with a big presence in Canada see Waymo's Toronto beachhead as a good sign.

"We believe the future of mobility will be hybrid, with human drivers and autonomous vehicles operating side by side," Laura Miller, Uber Canada's head of policy, said in a statement.

The ride-hailing company has partnerships with more than 30 autonomous vehicle companies, including Toronto-based Waabi, she said.

With driverless taxis on the road ahead, Miller called on the province, industry and communities to set clear safety standards and "prepare for the impact on workers."

A Waymo autonomous vehicle drives below lanterns hanging in Chinatown in San Francisco, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)

Expert questions if vehicles can handle winter weather

While Waymo has deployed fully autonomous taxis in more than a dozen U.S. cities, the impact of harsh weather remains a real concern, said Sidney Givigi, a professor of robotics and machine learning at Queen’s University’s School of Computing.

"All the sensors can get occluded by snow," Givigi said, "which is something that they don't have in California.

"What if there is ice on the road, or you have a very strong blizzard and then you try to stop your car on a hill and it does not stop?"

In more clement conditions, Givigi places at least as much faith in the machine as the human driver.

"The system does not get tired," he said. "They don't take risks, which lots of drivers do."

Toronto residents curious, but cautious of Waymo

When asked if he'd get into a driverless taxi, Toronto resident Kyle MacDonnell said, "absolutely not."

He said society was going "to the point of no return" and he would rather "keep it as real as possible" for however long he could.

Resident David Feldman said he'd try it out depending on the price, adding most ride-hailing users rarely interact with their drivers.

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"You sort of don't even notice that there's somebody driving, so it could be interesting," he said.

The potential impact to existing taxi and ride-share drivers is something Mayor Chow's office said it was concerned about after a meeting with Waymo earlier this year, saying then any move toward autonomous vehicles must not put people out of work or undermine workers’ livelihoods.

But resident Waleed Anwar said he thinks "it's a matter of time" before they become the norm, and Toronto should start adopting the vehicles as soon as possible.

Arrthy Thayaparan is a writer at CBC Toronto with interests in health, climate, education and community stories. You can contact her at arrthy.thayaparan@cbc.ca.

With files from Mark Gollom, Metro Morning and The Canadian Press