Waymo's robotaxis are heading to Canada

The company will begin testing its self-driving vehicles on the streets of Toronto.

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Alphabet's self-driving car unit, Waymo, is expanding into Canada after receiving approval to participate in Ontario's autonomous vehicle pilot program.

Although the company has yet to launch a robotaxi service. Waymo tends to follow the same playbook for each new city, gradually moving from manual mapping to testing and eventually launching a commercial service.

Waymo announced in a blog post on Friday that the company's self-driving vehicles will be manually guided in Toronto to create high-resolution maps of the local street network. The company will then test its self-driving cars on public roads with a human safety operator on board. These operators are eventually removed from the driver's seat, after which the company invites people to ride in its robot taxi.

Waymo's move into Canada is part of an aggressive push into new markets that is growing. Two years ago, the company was operating in only three commercial markets, and its robot taxis were not yet plying the freeways. Its expansion plans began in March 2025 with locations in Austin and later in Atlanta. Today, the company has robotaxi services in 15 cities in the United States and is also testing them in London and Tokyo.

Expanding into Canada marks an important milestone in its global journey, said Takedra Mawakana, the company's CEO. It's also the northernmost and possibly winteriest city Waymo has ever attempted to operate in, so the conditions will test its AV technology and operational intelligence.

As part of its rapid expansion strategy, Waymo has begun partnering with third-party companies to manage its fleet in each respective city. Toronto is no different: Waymo said it has partnered with Toronto-based Element Fleet Management and expects to support hundreds of jobs in spaces such as fleet maintenance, validation driving, customer service and operations.

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