EVwire brief: Waymo is bringing its fully autonomous ride-hailing service to Toronto, its first Canadian market, with the first riders targeted for 2028.
Waymo vehicles will start showing up on Toronto streets in the coming days, though with humans driving at first. The initial phase covers high-definition mapping of the city's street network, followed by testing with trained autonomous specialists behind the wheel.
Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana framed the move as a milestone for the company's global push:
“Expanding into Canada marks an important milestone in Waymo’s global journey. Toronto is one of the world’s great cities — innovative, diverse, and forward-looking. We’re proud to bring the Waymo Driver to Canada’s largest city [...]”
The milestone was announced by the official Waymo account on X:
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Waymo is teaming up with Toronto-headquartered Element Fleet Management, which will handle end-to-end fleet management for the service. Together with Element and other partners, Waymo plans to add hundreds of jobs over time in fleet maintenance, validation driving, customer service and other operations roles.
Element joins Waymo's existing Canadian ties, which include long-term investor Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) and manufacturing partner Magna International.
Element Fleet Management CEO Laura Dottori-Attanasio commented on the expanded partnership:
“As a Canadian company, we are proud to be expanding our partnership with Waymo to help bring autonomous ride-hailing to Toronto.”
Waymo is pitching its all-weather Waymo Driver as an added option alongside Toronto's bike lanes and public transit.
On safety, the company says data from over 400 million kilometers (about 248.55 million miles) of fully autonomous driving shows the Waymo Driver was involved in 95% fewer crashes involving serious injury or worse than human drivers in the cities where it operates.
Waymo is also working with accessibility and mobility groups in Toronto, including BALANCE for Blind Adults, CNIB, Community Living Toronto, Connected Canadians and Epilepsy Ontario. BALANCE for Blind Adults CEO Michelle McQuigge welcomed the early outreach:
“Waymo’s history of partnering with the sight loss community to build accessible solutions is encouraging and their decision to engage with us early reflects the kind of approach that leads to real results.”
Residents and visitors can sign up for Toronto updates at waymo.com/waymo-in-canada.
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Context:
Toronto is the latest in a run of international announcements. Waymo has said fully autonomous rides in Singapore are planned for 2028, the same target it now sets for Toronto. Meanwhile, its European push started with London. It will be followed by a Munich launch targeted for late 2027.
Operating conditions are the other part of the story. For example, Weather challenges prompted Waymo to pause its services in four US cities. The company also recalled nearly 4,000 robotaxis, restricting them from highways due to their confusion over construction zones.
Source: Waymo blog, Waymo on X
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