Waymo Self-Driving Taxis Set for Testing in Japan

Self-driving taxi company Waymo is ready to make its first foray abroad.

The firm, owned by Google parent Alphabet, has announced that it intends to test in Japan in 2025.

“We’re thrilled to announce that Waymo, in partnership with Nihon Kotsu and Go, will bring our autonomous vehicles to Tokyo for our first international road trip,” stated a blog post on the company website.

“There, our Driver will learn and adapt to left-hand traffic and new driving nuances associated with operating in one of the world’s most densely populated urban environments.”

‘Road trips’ in Waymo parlance are when it takes its autonomous vehicles (AVs) to areas where it has little or no experience in, as it has done in the United States, for example, in Bellevue, outside of Seattle, or Buffalo, New York.

This allows its Waymo Drive self-driving technology to gain experience of driving conditions that it has not previously been exposed to, which has obvious benefits for future deployment.

The company’s converted Jaguar I-Pace SUVs is scheduled to arrive in Tokyo early next year, but Waymo has already laid the groundwork for the exercise by engaging local partners and entering into discussions with the government and local community organizations.

The partners are Nihon Kotsu and Go. The former is Tokyo’s largest taxi company and plans to assist in managing and servicing the Waymo fleet. It would also provide the human drivers who initially will operate the AVs as they map the Japanese capital.

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Among the areas to be covered are Minato, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Chiyoda, Chuo, Shinagawa and Koto.

Go, meanwhile, is Japan’s most widely used taxi-hailing app.

Waymo said the exercise will allow it to evaluate how its AI-powered Driver generalizes to new environments through simulation, expecting to pave the way for it to become a “beneficial part of Tokyo’s transport ecosystem.”

The expansion comes at a pivotal time for the company. As it closes 2024, it is now providing 150,000 paid rides per week to customers in the U.S. in four cities – San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Austin.  Miami is expected to join the roster in 2025.

Waymo has firmly established itself as America’s leading self-driving taxi operator, particularly given that General Motors has pulled the plug on funding for one-time rival Cruise.

But with Chinese companies making moves globally, such as WeRide in the United Arab Emirates and Baidu in Hong Kong . Waymo is clearly looking to extend its influence abroad.

Given Japan’s concerted push to embrace autonomous technology in recent years, Tokyo looks like a favourable place to start.

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