Waymo to test robotaxis in Toronto, revs up 2028 launch

Waymo crossover SUV in action in Denver.

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 reach 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 advantage 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.

For its Canadian launch, Waymo is partnering with Toronto-based Element Fleet Management, which will provide maintenance, customer service and other support functions.

Waymo’s distinctive white crossover SUVs will not be the first fully autonomous vehicles to traverse Toronto streets under the provincial pilot program.

Last year, California-based Gatik began a rollout of 50 self-driving box trucks across Loblaw’s distribution network in the Greater Toronto Area. Many of those trucks are now cruising the streets and ferrying groceries with no one behind the wheel, relying instead on more than two-dozen cameras, radar and lidar, a laser-based measurement of distance.

Waymo cars draw on a broader array of sensors than many autonomous vehicles, including Tesla’s. The latest Waymo taxis sport 13 cameras, six radars and nine cars lidar devices versus nine cameras and zero radar or lidar on most Tesla models.

“They have way more sensors, which makes the whole system more robust,” said Sidney Givigi, a professor of robotics and machine learning at Queen’s University’s School of Computing.

However, harsh weather remains a real concern.

While Waymo has deployed fully autonomous taxis in more than a dozen U.S. cities, Denver may be the only one that hosts significant snowfall.

— The Canadian Press