Days after reaching half a million trips per week in the US, Waymo hosted a media briefing in Tokyo where executives said the company’s robotaxi launch in the Japanese capital “could be ready in a few months.”
The company signed a strategic partnership with major taxi operator Nihon Kotsu and ride-hailing app GO in December 2024 to start testing its autonomous driving technology in the city.
Waymo vehicles equipped with multiple sensors have been driven by human drivers across the city since April 2025 to collect mapping and driving data ahead of the commercial launch.
An official launch date has not been announced.
However, executives signaled last week that the timeline is tightening, according to Japanese outlet MONOist.
According to the report, Waymo executives said that “it won’t take years to launch in Tokyo,” adding that they “feel it could be ready in a few months.”
Chief Product Officer Saswat Panigrahi said at the event that “comparing Tokyo to San Francisco, while traffic rules differ, there are many similarities,” before adding that the company “can apply knowledge from San Francisco to Tokyo.”
Panigrahi noted that “after riding along on test drives, I feel that launching autonomous driving service in Tokyo won’t take years — it could be ready in a matter of months.”
The timeframe refers to technical readiness, not regulatory approval — as launching the service will also require compliance with Japanese regulations and coordination with both the national government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
Panigrahi said Waymo intends to eventually expand from Tokyo to other cities and suburbs in Japan.
Collaboration with Automakers
Waymo does not build vehicles itself. Instead, it collaborates with automakers.
“In Japan, we plan to work with Toyota to explore what can be achieved together in autonomous vehicle development,” he said.
Monet Technologies, which is backed by SoftBank and Toyota, ran a self-driving mobility service in Tokyo’s Toyosu area between August and December last year.
The service used two Toyota‑based self‑driving vehicles on public roads, offering free on‑demand rides at designated stops, and was operated on a limited trial basis through December 19.
Waymo‘s robotaxi launched in the US with modified Jaguar I-Pace vehicles.
The testing fleet in Japan also includes units of the model, as shown exactly a year ago when the city welcomed the first Waymo vehicles there.
The hardware currently used in Tokyo test drives is the 5th generation.
Development of the 6th-generation hardware has already begun.
New features are expected to handle snowy conditions and icy roads while reducing hardware costs.
The 6th generation will be integrated in the Ojai — Waymo‘s purpose-built robotaxi developed by Chinese Geely Holding Group‘s Zeekr brand.
Taxi Driver Expertise
Waymo‘s Senior Director of Business Development Nicole Gavel said the partnership combines Nikon Kotsu’s nearly 100 years of operational experience with the US company’s autonomous technology.
“We can see its level improving every day,” Nikon Kotsu’s Ichiro Kawanabe stated. “We eagerly anticipate the day we can offer fully driverless autonomous services in Japan.”
Panigrahi described Tokyo as an ideal environment to demonstrate the system.
“Waymo aims to create the world’s most trusted driver. Tokyo is an ideal environment to demonstrate this,” he said. “On test drives, I saw Waymo Driver handle narrow roads, pedestrians, bicycles, and even encounters with go-karts, and it drove safely — a fantastic experience.”
Service Expansion
Co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov said last week that Waymo has surpassed 4 million miles driven autonomously and now provides 500,000 rides per week across ten US cities.
It targets one million paid rides per week by year-end.
Washington, DC is lined up as the next domestic market.
The company is, however, preparing for its first right-hand drive markets — London and Tokyo — which will also be its first international locations of the service.
Dolgov described the current phase as one of “accelerated global scaling and deployment,” noting that Waymo has moved beyond fundamental research.
He cautioned, however, that deploying in new geographies requires significant additional work.
“There is a lot of work to do in specialization and in validation before we can deploy responsibly,” he said. “The signs are different in both of those places.”
Still, early results have been encouraging. While the San Francisco system cannot simply be transplanted abroad, the underlying technology transfers well, Dolgov said.
“What we’re seeing is incredibly encouraging from the perspective of is the core technology there,” he said. “Now it’s a matter of collecting the data, doing some specialization and validation.”
Japan Competition
Plans for autonomous ride‑hailing in Tokyo are evolving, with setbacks and ongoing trials shaping the landscape.
In 2023, Honda announced a partnership with General Motors and its Cruise autonomous driving unit to launch a driverless taxi service in central Tokyo from early 2026.
However, GM pulled the plug on Cruise’s robotaxi business in December 2024, citing intense competition and high costs.
Honda says it is still exploring the possibility of a robotaxi service; it has not announced any specific plans as of yet.
Meanwhile, Nissan ran a limited self‑driving mobility service in Yokohama from November 2025 through the end of January.
The company aimed to gather data and pave the way for a commercial launch of autonomous mobility services in 2027.
International players are also present. Besides Waymo, US startup Nuro has begun early self-driving trials as well, focusing on data collection.
“Nuro vehicles are now driving autonomously with safety operators in Japan,” the company announced earlier this month.
Nuro is developing a robotaxi with Uber and EV maker Lucid Motors in the United States.
Earlier this month, Tesla also announced that it expects its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software to be approved in Japan this year.
“We are trying everything we can to implement this system by 2026,” President of Tesla’s Japanese subsidiary, Riichi Hashimoto, stated.
According to a report by Japanese media outlet Nikkei, Tesla is currently using a fleet of Model 3s and Model Ys to test the autonomous driving software in the country.
