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Waymo picks Toronto for its first robotaxis in Canada, with riders due in 2028

Alphabet's driverless unit will start by driving Toronto's streets itself, mapping them the slow way before any robot takes the wheel. Ontario has let it into the province's automated vehicle pilot, and a Toronto winter may be its hardest examiner yet.

Toronto, Canada · October 18, 2026

Waymo said on Friday that it plans to bring its robotaxi service to Toronto in 2028, its first planned deployment in Canada and the latest step in a push that has already taken it toward London and Tokyo. Reuters reported that the company will partner with Element Fleet Management, which is headquartered in Toronto, to run fleet operations, and that the partners expect to create hundreds of jobs over time in fleet maintenance, validation driving, customer service and other operations roles.

Anyone expecting driverless cars on Queen Street next month will be disappointed, and that is by design. TechCrunch reported that Waymo has approval to take part in Ontario's automated vehicle pilot program, and that it follows the same playbook in every new city. Its vehicles will first be driven manually to build high definition maps of Toronto's streets. Then comes testing on public roads with a human safety operator on board. Only after the operators come out does the public get invited to ride.

The pace behind that caution is worth noticing. Two years ago Waymo operated in just three commercial markets and its cars were not yet driving on freeways. Today it runs robotaxi services in 15 US cities and is testing in London and Tokyo. Toronto makes it the company's fourth announced market outside the United States, after London, Tokyo and Singapore, according to Electrek. Co CEO Tekedra Mawakana called the move into Canada an important milestone in the company's global journey.

Toronto is not just another pin on that map. TechCrunch notes it is the northernmost and possibly most wintry city Waymo has tried to operate in, so snow, ice and dark winter afternoons become a genuine technical test rather than a marketing line. The politics are wintry too. Electrek reported that in April the office of Mayor Olivia Chow told the Toronto Star it would not support Waymo if the service cost jobs, and that the company would have to show that it will not. The hundreds of roles in Waymo's announcement read like a direct answer to that condition.

Read the 2028 date with the right amount of salt. It is a target, not a confirmed launch day, and reporting on the announcement notes that Ontario does not yet have rules for a commercial driverless service. Waymo still has to map the city, satisfy regulators and prove its system through at least one full winter. If it manages all three, Toronto becomes the place the robotaxi industry learns whether its technology works when the weather stops cooperating.