Robotaxis are coming to Canada: Will the curb be ready for everyone?
Author: Bern Grush Date Published: November 1, 2026
Robotaxis are coming to at least one city in Canada
On October 16, 2026, Waymo announced that it will bring driverless ride-hailing to Toronto, with a goal of carrying its first passengers in 2028 [1]. Its vehicles are mapping the city now, after Ontario approved Waymo's participation in the provincial automated vehicle pilot [2]. Toronto-based Element Fleet Management will support operations. The Urban Robotics Foundation expects other operators to follow.
Waymo has also shown interest in British Columbia [3], but British Columbia remains restrictive. Its law does not permit driverless vehicles, and in March 2026 the province said it was not pursuing a pilot [4]. That caution mirrors its history with ride-hailing, which reached Vancouver in January 2020, nearly eight years after Uber first tried to enter [5].
The question for at least Toronto is no longer whether robotaxis arrive. The question is whether every person in the city can use them.
The curb decides who can ride
Robotaxis carry passengers in the United States. Waymo, the company coming to Toronto, operates in 15 U.S. cities as of November 2026 [2]. A rider hails a vehicle by app, and the vehicle, with no one at the wheel, chooses where to stop. Where no safe stopping place is designated, vehicles stop where they can, including in travel lanes and bike lanes, which blocks first responders and puts passengers and other road users at risk.
Most robotaxi trips begin and end at the curb, and where the vehicle stops decides who can use the service. San Francisco holds the documented record. In 2022, after reviewing dozens of Cruise videos, city agencies told the state regulator, which approves driverless passenger service in California, they had not identified a single instance of a passenger picked up at the curb, even where curb space was available, and warned of a disproportionate risk to older adults and wheelchair users [6]. In 2023, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund asked the regulator to require vehicles to pull over to the curb rather than stopping in the travel lane or on bike lanes [7]. In 2025, a San Francisco cyclist sued Waymo, alleging that a passenger opened a door into her bike lane from a stopped driverless vehicle and that she suffered serious injuries [8]. In 2026, the American Foundation for the Blind reported that only 49% of blind people who had used an autonomous vehicle found it fully accessible, and that safe pickup and drop-off was among the most common problems [9]. For people who have difficulty walking, AFB noted, a drop-off farther than they can walk can make an autonomous vehicle unusable.
Canadian taxi users have the same needs. Statistics Canada reports that 27% of Canadians aged 15 and older, 8.0 million people, have a disability that limits daily activities [10]. That figure includes disabilities, such as pain-related and mental health-related ones, that may not affect entering or leaving a vehicle. The groups that depend on a safe curb are still significant. Statistics Canada’s breakdown by type shows 10.6% with a mobility disability and 7.4% with a vision disability, and 40.4% of seniors with a disability [11]. These groups overlap, so the percentages do not sum. For many of these riders, and for parents with young children and a stroller, getting in or out of a robotaxi in a travel lane is unsafe. Getting in and out within a bicycle lane is unsafe for everyone.
A human driver can improvise a safe stop and offer help. A driverless vehicle has no driver to do either, a gap that CSA Group identifies as a new barrier for riders with disabilities [12]. Safe pickup and drop-off locations must be designated in advance, and the city must be permitted to enforce their use.
Ontario must let its cities decide the curb
Ontario regulates automated vehicles through its Ministry of Transportation. Toronto's own website states that the City has no regulations specific to automated vehicles [13].
That division suits testing. It does not suit curbside passenger service, because the curb is municipal. Cities designate loading zones, price on-street parking, and enforce stopping rules. If a province writes rules for commercial robotaxi service that preempt, or override, these powers, a city cannot require fleets to use safe pickup and drop-off zones, cannot price the zones, and cannot manage the place where accessible trips begin and end. Riders with disabilities carry that risk first. San Francisco shows the pattern: its agencies documented the problem and took it to the state regulator, because the regulator, not the city, decides. Every province that writes rules for the first operator to apply faces the same choice.
What Ontario and its cities—at least Toronto—should do now
Waymo's 2028 goal leaves Ontario time to act. The Urban Robotics Foundation recommends three commitments before Ontario (or any province) triggers commercial robotaxi service.
Preserve municipal PUDO authority at the curb. Provincial rules should state that its cities may designate, mark, sign, price, and enforce pickup and drop-off zones on public curbs, and may require operators to use them. In Ontario, this would be guided by the AODA.
Require accessible zones. Cities that host robotaxi service should provide enough accessible zones in each busy pickup and drop-off area, sited with input from local disability advisory bodies. Riders with disabilities should not pay extra fees for access.
Favor open standards. Provinces should favor open interface standards, such as ISO/DTS 25614-1 for curb reservation [14], so any fleet can use any city's zones.
Pricing makes these commitments affordable. A zone removes a parking space and its meter revenue. Letting cities charge operators for zone use replaces that revenue and manages demand.
Robotaxis will arrive in Canada on their operators' schedule. Inclusive service depends on decisions that provinces and cities make before the first rider boards.
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