Waymo’s robotaxis are headed to Canada

The company will start off by testing its self-driving vehicles on Toronto's streets. Alphabet’s self-driving car unit, Waymo, is expanding into Canada after receiving approval to participate in Ontario’s automated vehicle pilot program. The company isn’t launching a robotaxi service just yet, though. Waymo tends to follow the same playbook for every new city, gradually proceeding from manual mapping to testing, and eventually operating a commercial service. Waymo said in a blog post on Friday that its self-driving vehicles will be manually driven in Toronto to create high-definition maps of local street networks. The company will then test its autonomous vehicles on public roads with a human safety operator on board.

These operators will eventually be pulled from the driver’s seat, and afterwards the company will invite the public to take rides in its robotaxis. Waymo’s move into Canada is part of an aggressive push into new markets that’s picking up speed. Two years ago, the company was operating in only three commercial markets, and its robotaxis were not yet driving on freeways. Its expansion plans kicked off in March 2025 with a deployment in Austin, and later in Atlanta. Today, the company has robotaxi services in 15 U.S. cities, and is testing them in London and Tokyo as well. The company’s co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said the expansion into Canada