Waymo picks Toronto as its first Canadian market, with riders in 2028
Waymo cars start mapping Toronto streets within days, human drivers at the wheel. The first paying rider is two years off.
Waymo is partnering with Toronto's Element Fleet Management to run the fleet and says the work will create hundreds of local roles. It cites 400 million fully autonomous kilometres and claims 95% fewer serious-injury crashes than human drivers.
The thread was dominated by riders from other cities saying the same thing: it just works.
The plan: map first, drive second, ride in 2028
On October 16 Waymo announced its first Canadian market, with a goal of welcoming riders in 2028. The sequence is phased: high-definition mapping, then testing with trained specialists behind the wheel to confirm the Waymo Driver can handle Toronto conditions. Vehicles with human drivers begin appearing in the coming days.
Toronto-headquartered Element Fleet Management will handle end-to-end fleet management, and the partners expect hundreds of roles in maintenance, validation driving and customer service. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is an investor and Magna International a manufacturing partner. Waymo cites more than 400 million fully autonomous kilometres and says its crashes involving serious injury or worse are 95% lower than human drivers', about 20 times fewer. It is working with groups including CNIB and BALANCE for Blind Adults on accessibility.
The thread: Waymo riders versus the comment section
A 385-comment thread opened with a rider wondering aloud whether they were alone in a good experience. They were not:
"Waymos have been cheaper and safer than Ubers and Lyfts for me here in SF." — a former SWE and PM now in venture capital
A retired GPU architect who gets around on foot, bike and transit saw upside for pedestrians:
"From the viewpoint of a pedestrian, having more "drivers" that don't get distracted on their phone sounds blissful." — a retired GPU architect who mostly walks and cycles
He also named the cost: pro-car lobbying likely to come with more cars. The most interesting remark was about the thread itself, from a business-systems consultant: forums like HN are "not reliable reporters of reality", only a signal of who felt moved to post. Another commenter noted that two opposite posts the week before both drew mostly negative comments.
What 2028 actually tests
The announcement has no Toronto-specific safety data, because there is none yet. The safety numbers are from the cities Waymo already operates in; the validation period exists to check whether they transfer. For Toronto residents, the practical step is the sign-up list at waymo.com/waymo-in-canada.
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