Waymo is taking its robotaxis to Japan next year and lining up a fully driverless service in Tokyo for 2027. The company has spent the past year testing in Tokyo, and says this would be the first autonomous ride service on public roads in Japan. Riders will be able to hail through both the Go app and Waymo's own.
Waymo will partner with Japan's Go Inc. and Nihon Kotsu Co. to operate the service. The group intends to begin with a limited number of vehicles and gradually build up to 100. Waymo still needs permits and licenses to run in Japan, and for now the rules require someone in the driver's seat regardless of automation level. The company says the service would "complement Tokyo's world-renowned transportation network, while helping Japan support an aging population and address future labor shortages."
Waymo has been growing quickly across the US and is also preparing a service in London. Japan has been a tough place to crack given tight rules and dense, narrow streets, but momentum is building. In the earlier part of this year, the US self-driving firm Nuro Inc. kicked off trials in Tokyo - its inaugural overseas site - following partnerships with Uber Technologies Inc. and Lucid Group Inc. Nuro, backed by Nvidia Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp., is aiming to compete with Waymo and Amazon.com Inc.'s Zoox.
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If regulators ultimately greenlight operations, the companies are pitching a service designed to slot into Tokyo's transit web and help offset labor strains. For everyday investors, that tells you where the demand story is headed: moving people efficiently in crowded cities and filling worker gaps with software on wheels.
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