Self-driving Waymo cars being spotted on Toronto streets as concerns mount

Self-driving taxi service Waymo has officially hit Toronto streets just weeks after the company's Oct. 16 announcement that it would begin testing its autonomous vehicles on local streets.

It's a potential major step forward in the way people move around Toronto, but Waymo's Canadian launch still has a tough road ahead to navigate, between regulatory hurdles and serious concerns from officials at City Hall and the taxi industry.

On the eve of Waymo's big announcement, lobbyist Aidan Grove-White, of StrategyCorp, logged a call to Adam Chaleff, the mayor's Director of Legislative Affairs & Issues Management. Another StrategyCorp lobbyist, Alex Bernst, attended an Oct. 22 meeting with City staff from the Strategic Policy & Initiatives and Policy & Innovation units of the Transportation Services department.

Matt Elliott first reported on these lobbying files in his City Hall Watcher newsletter, though no further details about the phone call and meeting are publicly available.

And while talks are ongoing behind closed doors, resistance to the new technology has been a bit more public.

Mayor Chow is wary about the new technology, and in an interview with the Toronto Star, her press secretary, Braman Thillainathan, said that "Any move toward autonomous vehicles must not put people out of work or undermine workers' livelihoods."

"The mayor will not support Waymo if it costs jobs, drives down wages for other workers, or contributes to precarious work in our city," added Thillainathan.

Kristine Hubbard, Managing Director at Beck Taxi and an outspoken critic of the rideshare industry, raised concerns over a video that surfaced on Monday showing a Waymo vehicle (albeit with a human driver) turning through a pedestrian crossing.

Love how the pedestrian walk sign was lit but you go ahead WHAT ARE WE DOING

— Kristine Hubbard (@KristineHubbard) November 2, 2026

Hubbard tells blogTO that Waymo’s arrival "is a very timely issue as we discuss the traffic crisis that faces our city."

"Simply put: there are too many cars on our roads," says Hubbard, adding that the U.S. tech company’s expansion north of the border comes at a time when "we attempt to protect Canadian sovereignty, we have yet another billion-dollar American company ready to take ownership of our roads."

"The false promises of fewer cars on the streets are the echo of all of the lies told by companies like Uber when they entered the market. We have more cars, higher emissions, and the largest poverty-paid workforce in history as a result of inaction from the provincial and municipal governments."

Though data suggests Waymo’s robotaxis are less prone to accidents than human drivers, Hubbard argues that, based on social media evidence shared on Monday, "Roads are less safe."

"As we saw from social media posts, Waymo is not even trying to be a safer option as they gather data through surveillance of our City."

Hubbard noted that Waymo vehicles were spotted on the eve of news that food bank visits are on the increase, and argues that "Taking jobs from Ontarians is certainly not a safe option."

Waymo has argued that its technology is safer than human drivers, and the company has stressed that vehicles will not even operate autonomously until local roads have been fully mapped.

Waymo explained in October that it will be "taking a rigorous, phased, safety-first approach starting with high-definition mapping of local street networks and testing with trained autonomous specialists behind the wheel" before the cars can go driverless.

Other locals welcome the new technology, noting that autonomous vehicles have lower collision rates than human-driven cars.

So excited to ride Waymos in Toronto. Even more excited to have drivers who are safer than humans on the roads!

— Alex Glista 🇨🇦🇪🇺 (@AlexanderGlista) November 2, 2026

Would you drive in a Waymo? Let us know in the comments.