Waymo, the self-driving car company owned by Google's parent Alphabet, said on Friday, Oct. 16, that it is preparing a driverless ride-hailing service in Toronto, with the goal of carrying its first riders in 2028. It would be Waymo's first service in Canada. "Expanding into Canada marks an important milestone in Waymo's global journey," said Tekedra Mawakana, Waymo's co-chief executive.
The cars will not drive themselves at first. In the coming days, Waymo vehicles will appear on Toronto streets with a person driving, building detailed maps of the roads. Then come tests with Waymo staff behind the wheel who are trained in safety and emergency procedures. The company lists more than a dozen Toronto neighborhoods for this work, including Harbourfront, Parkdale, Leaside and Liberty Village, and says testing typically runs around the clock.
Waymo says Ontario's Ministry of Transportation has approved it to take part in the province's Automated Vehicle Pilot Program to begin manual driving and testing. The program lets companies test self-driving cars on public roads under strict conditions, normally with a safety driver at the wheel. Testing with nobody in the driver's seat is allowed only under extra rules: among other conditions, the company must accept full liability, be able to monitor and control the car if needed, and bring it to a safe stop. A company already in the program must apply again before testing that way. The program has been extended until Oct. 13, 2027, and Waymo says it will keep working with regulators to get the permits each phase needs.
Toronto-based Element Fleet Management will look after the cars, and Waymo says the two companies and its other partners will add hundreds of jobs over time in maintenance, test driving and customer service. Waymo says it operates in more than 15 U.S. cities and gives more than 500,000 trips a week. It also says its own data from more than 400 million kilometers of driving with nobody at the wheel shows its cars were involved in 95% fewer crashes causing serious injury or worse than human drivers in the cities where it operates.
Winter is part of the test. Waymo says it already operates in several cities that get snow every year, including Denver and Detroit, drives in below-freezing temperatures in the U.S., and is still checking that its system can handle harsher weather. It has not said when it will start testing with nobody at the wheel in Toronto, what rides will cost, or which permits it will need before it can carry paying riders.