Waymo, Japanese partners target driverless taxi service in Tokyo in 2027

Alphabet's autonomous driving subsidiary Waymo, in collaboration with Japanese taxi app provider GO and taxi company Nihon Kotsu, announced plans to launch Japan's inaugural fully autonomous commercial taxi service in the capital, Tokyo, by 2027. The partnership aims to commence with a limited fleet, gradually expanding to approximately 100 vehicles across key neighborhoods, contingent upon regulatory approvals and the successful verification of Waymo's technology and business model.

From the outset, the service will be entirely unmanned, accessible through both the GO and Waymo applications. Waymo's Co-CEO, Tekedra Mawakana, confirmed during a press conference in Tokyo that the service will serve the public from the very beginning. The announcement signifies a significant step in Waymo's Japan strategy, following their initial data collection efforts in Tokyo using human-driven Jaguar I-PACE vehicles in 2025, marking their first public-road operations outside the United States.

The collaboration aims to tackle Japan's driver shortage and population decline. Notably, Japanese automaker Nissan has been concurrently partnering with British startup Wayve and Uber Technologies on developing robotaxi systems.