Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous driving unit, has won approval to join Ontario’s Automated Vehicle Pilot Program, setting the stage for bringing its robotaxis to Toronto. The company is not launching its service immediately, but plans to follow its established phased approach — starting with mapping, advancing to public-road testing, then ultimately commercial service.
In its initial phase, Waymo will conduct manual drives — with human drivers — throughout Toronto to collect data and build high-definition maps of city streets. This data gathering phase will be followed by trials of its self-driving vehicles on public roads, but each vehicle will initially have a human safety operator present behind the wheel. Over time, the safety driver will be removed, and the system will open rides to the public.
Expansion Into Tough Conditions
This marks Waymo’s first approved move into Canada. The company sees Toronto — with its cold winters and challenging road conditions — as a crucial test bed for its autonomous vehicle technology. The city represents its northernmost operation so far, and will provide climate extremes that the system hasn’t yet faced in its commercial city deployments.
Where Waymo Stands Now
Waymo currently operates commercial robotaxi services in 15 U.S. cities. Outside the U.S., it’s also running tests in London and Tokyo, though those services are not yet open to the public. The company’s broader expansion kicked off in March 2025, with Austin becoming its first deployment in a new region, followed shortly by Atlanta. Prior to that, Waymo had only been active in three cities, and none of its robotaxis were yet traversing freeways.
To support its growth strategy, Waymo is increasingly relying on local partnerships for operations such as fleet management and maintenance. In Toronto, it has teamed up with Element Fleet Management, a local company, which will help with fleet upkeep, driver validation, customer operations, and other roles. The expansion is expected to generate hundreds of new jobs in the area.
WAYMO’s arrival in Toronto via the Ontario pilot program is a notable milestone in autonomous vehicle deployment. It reflects both growing regulatory openness and the need for real-world testing in diverse environments. For Waymo, mastering operating in cold and snowy conditions is essential if it intends to scale globally with reliability. What to look out for next: whether its safety systems perform well under winter weather, whether regulators maintain flexible but rigorous oversight, and how quickly public ride availability begins once initial testing phases succeed without incident.
