In early 2025, Waymo will start trying its self-driving car technology in Tokyo. This will be the first time that the Alphabet company’s robotaxis have driven on public roads outside of the U.S.
Waymo is taking its technology on “road trips” to different places to test it. Each city has its own challenges, which is why the move to Japan is part of this program. The Waymo robotaxis will have to deal with moving on the left side of the road and a very crowded city in Tokyo.
Up until now, those road trips have mostly been to a dozen U.S. places, usually to experience certain weather or environments, like how rainy Miami is or how hot Death Valley, California, is. The company has also tried its cars in Seattle, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, and Buffalo. Waymo usually starts by sending a small fleet to a city, where a person drives each car by hand and maps out certain places. In the end, the cars will be tested in self-driving mode, but at first, a person will be in charge.
Waymo said that as part of its “road trip” through Japan, it will work with the taxi app GO and the taxi company Nihon Kotsu. The company says that Nihon Kotsu will be in charge of managing and maintaining the Waymo cars.
At first, Nihon Kotsu drivers will have to drive the cars by hand to make maps of important parts of Tokyo, such as Minato, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Chiyoda, Chūō, Shinagawa, and Kōtō. Waymo said that it is working with Nihon Kotsu to teach its workers how to drive Waymo’s self-driving Jaguar I-Pace cars.
Also Read: There Are Now 100,000 Robotaxi Rides A Week Thanks To Waymo
The news comes just one week after GM said it would end its Cruise robotaxi program. That move also ended plans for GM and Honda to launch a driverless ride-hailing service in Japan. Honda, Cruise, and GM all said in October 2023 that they were going to work together to start a robotaxi service in Tokyo in 2026. The service would use Cruise’s custom-built robotaxi, called The Origin.
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