Waymo to Test Self-Driving Vehicles on Toronto Streets
Waymo is expanding into Canada, beginning with manually driven mapping vehicles in Toronto before testing its autonomous driving technology on public roads. The company says the move will eventually support a potential robotaxi service.
Radwan AbdulhadiEditor and technology writer
Waymo begins Canadian expansion
Waymo, Alphabet’s self-driving car unit, is expanding into Canada after receiving approval to participate in Ontario’s automated vehicle pilot program. The company will begin its Canadian work in Toronto, where it plans to prepare its vehicles and technology for testing on local roads.
The approval does not mean that Waymo is launching a commercial robotaxi service in Toronto immediately. The company typically enters a new city in stages, moving from manual mapping to autonomous testing and, eventually, public rides if the operation progresses to a commercial launch.
Mapping comes before autonomous testing
Waymo said in a blog post on Friday that its vehicles will initially be driven manually through Toronto. That work will be used to create high-definition maps of the city’s street networks, an early step in the company’s process for preparing its self-driving systems for a new operating environment.
After the mapping phase, Waymo plans to test its autonomous vehicles on public roads with a human safety operator in the vehicle. The company’s stated progression is for those operators to eventually leave the driver’s seat, followed by an invitation for members of the public to take rides in its robotaxis.
A faster push into new markets
The Toronto expansion is part of what Waymo describes as an increasingly accelerated international and domestic growth strategy. The company’s expansion into new markets has gathered pace since March 2025, when it deployed in Austin, followed later by an expansion into Atlanta.
According to the source report, Waymo operated in only three commercial markets two years ago, and its robotaxis had not yet begun driving on freeways. The company now has robotaxi services in 15 U.S. cities, while also testing the technology in London and Tokyo.
Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana described the Canadian expansion as an important milestone in the company’s global journey. Toronto will also be the northernmost city where Waymo has tried to operate and may be its most wintry operating environment so far, creating a test for the company’s autonomous driving technology and operations.
Fleet partnership in Toronto
As it expands, Waymo has begun working with third-party companies to manage its fleet in each city. In Toronto, the company has partnered with Element Fleet Management, a Toronto-based company that will support the local fleet operation.
Waymo said the Toronto operation is expected to support hundreds of jobs across areas including fleet maintenance, validation driving, customer service and operations. The company did not announce a date for public robotaxi rides in Toronto, and its immediate focus remains mapping and supervised testing.
The road to a commercial service
The Toronto plan follows Waymo’s established approach to entering new cities: first collecting local road data, then testing with human oversight before considering a public service. That sequence means the Canadian announcement marks the start of an operational rollout rather than the immediate arrival of fare-paying autonomous rides.
For Waymo, the next stages will involve adapting its self-driving vehicles to Toronto’s street network and evaluating how the technology performs in local conditions. The company’s Canadian expansion will therefore develop over time, with public access dependent on the progress of mapping, autonomous testing and the eventual removal of the safety operator from the driver’s seat.
Sources
- TechCrunchWaymo’s robotaxis are headed to Canada
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