Waymo robotaxis head to Tokyo with the help of Nihan Kotsu and GO

Waymo LLC yesterday announced that it will be bringing its autonomous vehicles to Tokyo for its first international “road trip.” The company is partnering with Nihan Kotsu and GO to make this possible. Waymo said its road trips have become an important first step in introducing its vehicles to new areas. 

The first all-electric Jaguar I-PACEs for Waymo will arrive in Tokyo in early 2025. Its partner, Nihon Kotsu, Tokyo’s largest taxi company, will oversee the management and servicing of the vehicles. The partners said they are working closely together to train Nihon Kotsu’s team on operating vehicles equipped with Waymo’s autonomous driving system.

Initially, Nihon Kotsu drivers will operate the vehicles manually to map key areas of the Japanese capital, including Minato, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Chiyoda, Chūō, Shinagawa, and Kōtō. In Tokyo, the Waymo 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.

This news came just a few weeks after Waymo announced it will begin testing its all-electric Jaguar I-PACEs on Miami’s streets. Through its new fleet partnership with Moove, the company’s Waymo One robotaxi service will be open to riders in Miami in 2026.

The self-driving unit of Alphabet spent 2024 expanding its robotaxi service across multiple cities, including San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. Waymo said it already provides over 150,000 trips per week across Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Austin.

Waymo plans align with Japan’s goals

Waymo said its expansion into Japan aligns with its vision for the future of transportation. Over the years, the Japanese national and Tokyo metropolitan governments have been proactively working to address evolving transportation needs and adopt innovative technologies that could enhance safety and mobility.

Waymo said it’s engaging with Japanese policymakers, regulators, and local safety officials to ensure a responsible and seamless implementation of self-driving cars on Tokyo’s streets. The company added that it hopes to gain experience during the initial rollout in Tokyo that will allow it to evaluate how its AI-powered driver generalizes to new environments through simulation.

This expansion follows Waymo’s safety framework—the same approach that guided the company from the world’s first fully autonomous ride on public roads to tens of millions of miles on U.S. roads.

Waymo also claimed that its upcoming road trip to Tokyo allows it to work alongside local partners, government officials, and community groups to understand the new landscape. The company said it will learn how to serve Tokyo’s residents and become a beneficial part of the city’s transportation ecosystem.

Cruise loses funding from GM, and other robotaxi news

For years, Waymo’s biggest robotaxi competition was Cruise, the self-driving unit of GM. When Cruise was most successful, it was running services in San Francisco, Austin, Houston, and Phoenix, and it had plans to expand to more than a dozen cities in 2024. 

However, the company hit several road bumps in 2023, which resulted in the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) suspending its permits in the state.

Now, General Motors is no longer funding Cruise’s robotaxi deployment work. It cited long development times, high costs, and an increasingly competitive market as the reasons behind its decision. 

That doesn’t mean, however, that Waymo is the only company working to deploy robotaxis in the U.S. Other competitors include Nuro, which recently expanded its capabilities using zero-occupant vehicles with the Nuro Driver system, and Zoox, which recently grew its operations in California and Nevada.

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