Alphabet, Google's parent company, is officially entering the Canadian market with autonomous vehicles. Waymo, the subsidiary focused on self-driving mobility, received approval from the Ontario government to participate in the province's automated vehicle pilot program, marking its first expansion beyond the United States. The company plans to begin a testing phase in Toronto in the coming days, with the goal of carrying its first passengers by 2028.
Waymo's plan for Toronto follows a playbook the company has refined through its US expansion. The initial steps involve driving vehicles manually through city streets to create high-definition maps of the local road network. Only after that will the company begin testing with human operators on board, who will gradually be replaced by fully autonomous driving. Only then will the public be able to access the commercial robotaxi service.
To support Canadian operations, Waymo has partnered with Element Fleet Management, a Toronto-based fleet management company. Element already supports Waymo's operations in San Diego and will now extend its functions to the Canadian operation, including maintenance, charging infrastructure, vehicle cleaning, and other daily functions needed to keep the fleet running. According to the company, the expansion will create hundreds of jobs in fleet maintenance, driving validation, customer service, and operations.
The expansion into Canada is part of an aggressive growth strategy by Waymo that has picked up speed over the past two years. In 2024, the company operated in just three commercial markets. Starting in March 2025 with deployments in Austin and Atlanta, Waymo has expanded its reach to 15 US cities, in addition to testing robotaxis in London and Tokyo. According to the company's own data, the Waymo Driver has accumulated over 400 million fully autonomous kilometers, with 95% fewer crashes involving serious injury or worse compared to human drivers in the cities where it operates.
Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO of Waymo, stated in a release that the expansion into Canada marks an important milestone in the company's global journey. Toronto is one of the fastest-growing metropolitan regions in North America and presents unique driving challenges that will test the robustness of Waymo's technology. The city will also be, potentially, the northernmost and coldest where the company has attempted operations, meaning Canadian winter conditions will be a significant test for the autonomous driving system.
Critics of autonomous technology often argue that vehicles still struggle with more complex environments, including heavy traffic and adverse weather conditions. Waymo has responded to this criticism by developing a system capable of operating in all weather conditions, launched in October 2025. The company has also invested heavily in collaboration with accessibility organizations, including Canadian partners such as CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind), BALANCE for Blind Adults, and Community Living Toronto.
Waymo's movement into Canada does not happen in a vacuum. Meanwhile, Tesla has been expanding its own robotaxi service since launching in Austin in June 2025, creating direct competition between two radically different approaches to the same ambition. Tesla relies on pure computer vision without lidars, while Waymo combines cameras, radar, and lidars in a redundant sensory system. Waymo's arrival in Toronto adds another player to the global race for autonomous driving — and Canada, with its rigorous regulatory framework and challenging weather conditions, promises to be a particularly demanding proving ground.
Sources: TechCrunch, Waymo Blog, Drive Tesla
✓ Independent sources cross-checked and verified before publishing
