Waymo’s Self-Driving Robotaxis to Launch in Tokyo in 2025

In early 2025, Waymo will start testing its autonomous car technology in Tokyo. This will be the first time the robotaxis from the Alphabet business has traveled on public roads outside of the United States.

The move to Japan is a component of Waymo’s “road trips,” a development initiative that entails testing its technology in a number of locales, each with unique challenges. The Waymo robotaxis will have to navigate a congested urban setting and left-hand driving in Tokyo.

These road journeys have so far concentrated on a dozen American locations, typically to test out certain habitats or situations, such the intense heat in Death Valley, California, or the rain in Miami. Additionally, Buffalo, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, and Seattle have all hosted vehicle tests for the corporation. Waymo usually starts with a small fleet that is brought to a city, where a human drives the vehicle by hand and maps certain locations. The cars will initially be driven by a human operator before finally testing in autonomous mode.

As part of its “road trip” in Japan, Waymo said that it will collaborate with the cab company Nihon Kotsu and the taxi-hailing app GO. According to Waymo, Nihon Kotsu will be in charge of managing and maintaining the cars.

In order to map important parts of the Japanese capital, such as Minato, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Chiyoda, Chūō, Shinagawa, and Kōtō, Nihon Kotsu drivers would initially drive the cars by hand. Waymo said that it is training its staff to drive Waymo’s self-driving Jaguar I-Pace cars in collaboration with Nihon Kotsu’s group.

Only a week has passed since GM said it would discontinue its Cruise robotaxi development, which also put a stop to ambitions to introduce a driverless ride-hailing service in Japan with partner Honda. Honda, Cruise, and GM announced in October 2023 that they will use Cruise’s specially designed robotaxis, The Origin, to jointly establish a robotaxi service in Tokyo in 2026.