Waymo worst case scenario

Taxi News wants to hear your best worst predictions

Waymo is lobbying the City of Toronto to launch a pilot project involving Autonomous Vehicles on Toronto streets. In December 2025, City Hall Watcher reported that Waymo’s team will be “communicating about the potential development of by-laws and regulations related to autonomous driving technologies, including as it relates to operational authorizations, commercial operations, goods delivery operations and ridehail operations.”

Professionals including Taxi drivers; rideshare drivers; and delivery drivers forced to endure roads and traffic in the City of Toronto are understandably skeptical that this initiative could be launched, never mind succeed as a safe and profitable business.

Taxi News maintains its stated position, that these announcements are made for for the public relations value and to hype investor activity.

However, be that as it may, Waymo is lobbying Toronto and so this conversation will be had. I mentioned this fact to my daughter this week and she burst out laughing: “Driverless cars in Toronto? I can only imagine them stuck in the snow, in winter.”

“Stuck in the snow, in a construction site….where it will be vandalized,” I nodded.

Later the same day I described the conversation thread to an engineer, that of a Waymo in Toronto stuck in the snow, in a construction site, being vandalized.

“And it probably will be blocking a streetcar,” he added, seriously.

His addition made me realize that perhaps we were only scratching the surface of the “Worst Case Scenario for Waymo” given Toronto traffic and organizational levels. I thought it might be interesting to open it up to readers: what would you consider to be the WORST case scenario in which an automous vehicle in Toronto could find itself?

And of course for balance, because I know we have readers who fully predict and support Automous Vehicles including Vehicles for Hire, “best case” scenarios are welcome too….those will probably be a lot less funny.

Please send your suggestions to taxinews@rogers.com, where we will work to compile a more comprehensive and hopefully entertaining list.