Waymo’s Toronto plan starts with maps, mechanics and human drivers

Waymo plans to begin driving around Toronto with people at the wheel, building the maps and local knowledge needed for a service it hopes will carry its first Canadian passengers in 2028. Announced on 16 October, the expansion will start with manual driving and safety validation as it works towards that proposed service.[1]

Alongside that announcement came a commercially revealing detail: Toronto-based Element Fleet Management will help run the fleet. The companies are extending a multi-year partnership announced in June for San Diego. Element’s Toronto assignment covers the people, facilities, charging infrastructure and vehicle operations that keep cars available for service.[2]

The business between journeys

A robotaxi earns nothing while it waits to be cleaned, repaired or charged. Removing the driver from a journey leaves those jobs to be organised somewhere else. For a fleet owner, the useful unit is therefore a vehicle ready to accept a booking, rather than simply a vehicle with an autonomous driving system installed.

Element describes its role as keeping vehicles maintained, charged, cleaned and serviced. Its responsibilities include energy management and coordinating facilities and staff. That creates a division of labour in which Waymo supplies the driving technology while an established fleet operator builds and manages much of the supporting operation.[2]

Waymo expects the expansion, together with its partners, to create hundreds of local roles over time, including maintenance, validation driving, customer service and operations. This is a projection for the expansion, rather than a count of people already hired.[1]

For prospective riders, the immediate development is narrower. Waymo says it has Ontario’s provincial permit to begin manual driving and testing under the Automated Vehicle Pilot Program. It will initially use a limited number of electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles, mapping selected neighbourhoods. Commercial rides are not yet available; the company says it will obtain the permits needed for each subsequent phase.[3]

Winter reaches into the depot

Beyond the initial Jaguar mapping fleet, Waymo’s wider winter-development programme includes its sixth-generation driving technology. The company describes cameras, lidar and radar working together, with heating and cleaning mechanisms to keep sensors clear. Its AI is designed to distinguish snow, slush and ice and adjust speed, acceleration and braking for changing traction. The company has been developing this through road, closed-course and simulation testing.[4]

The same account identifies cleaning and charging vehicles in freezing temperatures as part of preparing a service. Weather capability extends from recognising a road surface to keeping the equipment ready for another trip. Waymo’s Toronto FAQ says it will adjust operations when conditions require it, including following local winter guidance.[4][3]

The route from testing to passengers

Ontario’s present pilot regulation permits approved vehicles to operate for testing purposes and is scheduled to be revoked on 13 October 2027, before Waymo’s target year. A 2028 commercial service therefore needs an applicable legal route beyond the current pilot’s existing term. The testing permit establishes the first phase of the project; the later operating permissions remain part of the work ahead.[5][6]

Canadian responsibilities are divided across governments. Transport Canada oversees the safety of new and imported vehicles; provinces and territories govern their operation on public roads. Municipalities may license taxi and ridesharing services. That makes a Canadian expansion a sequence of local operating decisions as well as a technology deployment.[7]

Element’s involvement gives that sequence a physical counterpart: depots, chargers, technicians and routines that can be built while the cars learn the city. The promise of an autonomous taxi ultimately includes both halves of the journey—a machine that can drive the route and a service that can put it outside your door.

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