Waymo to test robotaxis in Toronto as it guns for 2028 launch date

Self-driving taxi operator Waymo is poised to launch a test phase in Toronto, with the goal of carrying its first passengers in 2028 as part of a push to breach the broader Canadian market.

The California-based ride-hailing company says the Ontario government has given it the green light to take part in a provincial pilot program that regulates testing of autonomous cars.

The move could give a jolt to the province's auto tech sector, shake up the ride-hailing market and potentially boost accessibility for the sight-loss community, observers say, even as concerns persist around safety and job security.

Waymo, owned by Google parent company Alphabet Inc., says the first phase includes high-definition street mapping and data collection starting this year, to be followed by test runs of the robotaxis with a driver behind the wheel.

Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana sought to reassure skeptics who say autonomous vehicles struggle to handle more complicated environments, including bad weather, heavy traffic or unusual situations.

"We're proud to bring the Waymo Driver to Toronto and to partner with a community that shares our commitment to safer streets and more accessible mobility," she said in a release.

"Expanding into Canada marks an important milestone in Waymo’s global journey." Waymo cars were involved in 95 per cent fewer crashes causing serious injury or death compared with humans in cities where the service operates, the tech firm said, citing internal data from more than 400 million fully autonomous kilometres driven.

Waymo's arrival could prove an accelerant for a budding cluster of auto-oriented tech companies in Ontario, industry leaders say.

"This is a big victory for some of the untold stories in mobility technology in Canada — the kinds of companies that don't get the headlines but, in terms of investment value ... are just as material as the ones that bend metal and melt plastics," said Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association.

He waved off worries about greater reliance on American companies at a time when trade ties have been weaponized against Canada by a more protectionist U.S. administration.

"We're in a really difficult period of Canada-U.S. relations where it's easy to make that criticism, and in a lot of cases it sticks.

But this is a world leader, and it is definitely the No.

1 player outside of China," Volpe said of Waymo.

He noted it has added jobs to the economies of Ontario and Quebec.