Waymo wants paying riders in Toronto in 2028, and the only Ontario regulation that lets its cars on the road expires 80 days before that year begins.
No Ontario rule today allows a paid driverless ride. The Ontario automated vehicle pilot, set out in O. Reg. 306/15, permits automated vehicles on public roads only for testing, and the regulation itself is revoked on October 13, 2027. Waymo’s 2028 launch therefore depends on a provincial text that has not been drafted in public, and any business planning around that date is planning around a regulation nobody can yet read.
Key points
The pilot regulation licenses testing and nothing else
Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act pilot for automated vehicles starts from a ban. Section 4 bars anyone from putting an automated vehicle on an Ontario highway unless the regulation makes room for it. Section 5 makes that room in one case only: the Registrar has approved the owner, and the car is out for testing under the pilot.
The 2019 amendments, made by O. Reg. 517/18, widened what can be tested. Section 13.1 lifts the driver’s seat duty for a Level 4 or 5 vehicle running without a driver, and the Ministry of Transportation’s program page describes driverless testing “under certain conditions”. None of that changes the purpose clause. A driverless car carrying a fare is still outside section 5, because carrying a fare is a service, and the text speaks only of testing.
Waymo’s own description is consistent with that reading. Its Canadian FAQ says the company was approved for the Automated Vehicle Pilot Program, holds a permit “to begin manual driving and testing”, and is not yet offering commercial rides. The company describes 2028 as a goal and says it is working with authorities to secure the permits it will need.
Status check: four dates in the Ontario automated vehicle pilot file
The dates that matter sit in three different documents, and only one of them binds anyone. Laid side by side, they show a pilot that ends before the commercial service it is supposed to prepare for can begin, with no successor text that we could find published as of November 3, 2026.
The Ontario automated vehicle pilot on one page
O. Reg. 268/25 is filed and replaces section 18, setting the revocation date. Binding text.
Waymo announces Toronto, with Element Fleet Management as its fleet partner. Company statement.
O. Reg. 306/15 is revoked, 344 days after November 3, 2026. Binding text.
Waymo’s target for its first Toronto riders. Company goal, earliest January 1, 2028.
Sources: O. Reg. 306/15 and O. Reg. 268/25 on e-Laws (currency date October 29, 2026); Waymo, October 16, 2026. Day counts are our own.
Who decides what replaces the Ontario automated vehicle pilot
The province decides what follows the Ontario automated vehicle pilot, through a regulation under the Highway Traffic Act. The Registrar of Motor Vehicles approves individual testers under section 9 and may attach conditions, but the Registrar cannot approve a use the regulation does not allow. A rule for paid driverless rides would have to come from the provincial government, as the 2025 extension did.
Ontario has already shown how it handles a new class. In October 2024 the ministry posted a framework for an automated commercial motor vehicle pilot lasting ten years covering trucks over 4,500 kg, to be made through a new regulation, and e-Laws now lists O. Reg. 161/25 under that title. That is a separate pilot for heavy trucks, and it is still a pilot. Nothing comparable has been posted for passenger service.
The City of Toronto licenses vehicles for hire, and the provincial text says nothing about how a robotaxi would sit under that licensing. A business should treat the city as a second approval it cannot yet price. We saw the same layering in Burnaby’s AI building permit review, where a city’s terms and a vendor’s terms answered different questions.
What a supplier or partner should put in writing now
Any contract that assumes a 2028 Toronto launch should name the missing successor to the Ontario automated vehicle pilot as a condition. That covers fleet maintenance and depot leases, charging and parking agreements, insurance placements, staffing contracts and venue pickup deals. Payment schedules, exclusivity and minimum volumes should start only once a provincial rule allowing paid driverless rides is in force. A calendar date is the wrong trigger.
Three clauses in the current text also deserve a line in any agreement made while testing continues. Section 2.2 requires liability insurance of at least $5,000,000, or $8,000,000 for a vehicle seating eight or more. Section 15 gives the owner 10 days to report a collision to the Registrar. Section 16 requires the owner to keep its pilot records until the third anniversary of the revocation, which on today’s text is October 13, 2030, so a partner holding vehicle or trip data should agree in writing who keeps it and where. Counsel should check each against the final text of whatever replaces the pilot.
For employers and landlords near the testing areas, which Waymo lists as including Liberty Village, Leaside and Etobicoke, the practical change today is small. Test vehicles follow the rules of the road, and the regulation requires approved testers to report collisions. The bigger question, a paid service, is the one the text leaves open. Readers following Ontario’s data centre playbook will recognize the pattern of announcements arriving before the rule that governs them.
Another extension would still be a testing licence
The strongest reply is that the end date of the Ontario automated vehicle pilot has moved before and will move again. O. Reg. 268/25 replaced section 18 in November 2025 to push the end date to October 13, 2027, and a government that wants Waymo’s investment can repeat the exercise in a single filing.
That is likely, and it does not solve the problem. An extension keeps section 5, and section 5 permits testing. Paid rides need new words, whether in an amended pilot or a fresh regulation, and new words can carry new conditions: data reporting, labour commitments, service areas or insurance levels. A business that budgets for an extension is budgeting for more testing, and the paid service it is waiting for would still need its own text. The distance between an announced plan and a text in force is the same one we traced in the Canada-EU digital trade deal. Our verdict is that 2028 is a company goal resting on a regulation that does not exist yet, and contracts should say so. More of our reading of provincial and federal AI rules sits on the Canadian AI policy hub.
FAQ
Can Waymo give paid rides in Toronto now?
No. Waymo says its Ministry of Transportation permit covers manual driving and testing and that it is not offering commercial rides. Section 5 of O. Reg. 306/15 allows automated vehicles on Ontario highways only for testing under the pilot.
When does the Ontario automated vehicle pilot end?
O. Reg. 306/15 is revoked on October 13, 2027, under section 18 as replaced by O. Reg. 268/25, filed November 27, 2025. The province can change that date with another regulation.
Does Ontario allow driverless cars without a safety driver?
Yes, for testing. Since the 2019 amendments, section 13.1 lets a Level 4 or 5 vehicle run without a driver under an approval with conditions. A paid service would still need a rule the pilot does not contain.
How much insurance does an automated vehicle need in Ontario?
Section 2.2 of O. Reg. 306/15 requires at least $5,000,000 in liability coverage, or $8,000,000 for a vehicle seating eight or more passengers. The full regulation is on e-Laws.
Checked November 3, 2026 against O. Reg. 306/15 and O. Reg. 268/25 on e-Laws, the Ministry of Transportation’s pilot page and registry notice, and Waymo’s Canadian pages. It is our analysis and should be read with counsel. The next date on the calendar is October 13, 2027, and the step before it is a published draft of whatever replaces the pilot.
