Waymo sets a 2028 goal for Toronto robotaxi rides, its first planned service in Canada

Toronto drivers know the city’s hardest months: slush at the curb, streetcar tracks slick with ice, lane lines lost under snow. In the coming days, Alphabet’s Waymo will start learning those streets too. The company says its driverless ride-hailing service is coming to Toronto, with the goal of welcoming its first riders in 2028.

The service will come slowly, with a person at the wheel at first. It is Waymo’s first planned service in Canada and, we think, one of its toughest winter tests yet. The Waymo Toronto plan also lands in a city already arguing about what robotaxis mean for drivers’ jobs.

Waymo Toronto plan: a slow start with people at the wheel

First, people will drive the cars to build detailed street maps. Then trained specialists will test them from behind the wheel. The Canadian Press, via CP24, reports that both steps begin this fall.

Waymo says it has joined Ontario’s Automated Vehicle Pilot Program, with a permit from the province’s Ministry of Transportation. The Financial Post reports it will start with a limited number of all-electric Jaguar I-PACE cars in neighbourhoods including St. Lawrence Market, Liberty Village, Don Mills and Etobicoke.

Toronto’s Element Fleet Management will run the fleet. Waymo says it and its partners will “invest in hundreds of roles over time” in maintenance, test driving and customer service. It gave no number or timeline.

Waymo already sells rides in more than a dozen US cities, more than half a million a week by its last public count. It has also announced plans for London and Tokyo.

Ontario’s pilot has an end date, and paid rides need new rules

Ontario’s pilot rules are due to lapse on 13 October 2027, months before Waymo’s 2028 goal, under an amendment the province filed in November 2025 (O. Reg. 268/25). The pilot covers testing only, Electrek notes.

Are self-driving cars legal in Toronto? For testing under the pilot, yes. Paid robotaxi rides would need new rules, and Ontario has not said what comes next.

In April, the Toronto Star reported, as summarised by MobileSyrup, that Mayor Olivia Chow’s office said the province, not the city, regulates driverless cars. It added that she would not support Waymo if it cost local taxi and ride-hail drivers their work. We found no new comment from the city or driver groups by publication.

A strong safety record, earned in warmer cities

Is Waymo safe? Its own numbers are encouraging. Waymo has driven more than 400 million kilometres without a driver, mostly in warm US cities such as Phoenix and Los Angeles. Its analysis finds 95% fewer crashes with serious injury or worse than human drivers. The method is peer-reviewed, but Waymo’s own researchers wrote it, so it is not an independent audit.

None of those kilometres were driven in a Canadian winter. Waymo says it has driven tens of thousands of miles in snow, in places such as Upstate New York and Michigan. Electrek calls Denver Waymo’s first true snow city; we found no public results yet from a full driverless winter there.

If you live in Toronto, or anywhere robotaxis are heading

For Toronto residents, little changes this year. You may see Waymo cars on your street, but a person will be driving. There is no price, fleet size or service area yet. If you want to ride early, Waymo has a sign-up page for updates. If you drive a taxi or for a ride-hail app, the test-driving and maintenance roles Waymo promises are the ones to watch.

For readers elsewhere, Toronto is a signal. It suggests Waymo now treats snow, a new country and new laws as problems worth years of patience. If it works here, cold cities around the world become easier to imagine.

Why Waymo’s Canada bet needs patience on every side

There is real good here. Waymo is moving step by step, seeking a permit for each phase. Its safety data, though its own, is published and updated. It has local partners and accessibility groups such as CNIB on board.

The concerns are just as fair. The 95% figure comes from warmer cities, not Toronto in February. The jobs promise has no number, and no one has shown it can offset lost driving work. The pilot ends before the target year, with no replacement announced. Like many targets in big-company tech news, 2028 is a goal, not a promise.

On balance, this is a careful start, not a launch. The likelier path is a small first service, shaped as much by Ontario’s rules and Toronto’s drivers as by Waymo’s software.

What to watch: whether Ontario sets rules for paid rides before October 2027, the cars’ first Toronto winter, and whether drivers get a real seat at the table.