Waymo is sending autonomous vehicles to Japan for its first international test

Waymo’s autonomous vehicles are headed to Tokyo, marking the first time the Alphabet company has taken vehicles to public roads in a foreign market.

Waymo is billing the trip as a simple “road trip” to gather data about the nuances of Japanese driving, including left-hand traffic and navigating congested urban areas. The vehicles will be driven manually for the purpose of collecting map data and will be managed by the local taxi operator, Nihon Kotsu. Around 25 vehicles will be delivered, with the first arriving in early 2025.

And while the tests will no doubt be seen as laying the groundwork for a future Tokyo-based robot service, Waymo said it’s not ready to announce anything yet.

“While we look forward to bringing the life-saving benefits of Waymo Driver globally, we have no plans to serve Tokyo riders at this time,” said Waymo spokesperson Sandy Karp. “Instead, we’re bringing our expertise to learn and understand how Waymo fits into the existing transportation landscape and to learn how to better engage with local officials and communities.”

The inclusion of GO, a popular taxi app in Japan, in the strategic partnership may indicate Waymo’s intention to put its autonomous vehicles to work with a local transportation provider. Waymo is already doing this in the US, making its autonomous vehicles available on Uber’s ridehail app in Austin and Atlanta.

Waymo’s robotaxi business in the US is growing, albeit slowly. The company currently has about 700 vehicles operating in several cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, and Phoenix. It also plans to launch a robotaxi service in Atlanta in an exclusive partnership with Uber and plans to launch in Miami in 2026. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai recently said that Waymo was providing 175,000 paid trips per week, or about a million miles.

In Tokyo, Waymo’s vehicles will be operated by independent trained technicians employed by Nihon Kotsu. When the company feels it is ready, it will switch to hands-free autonomous driving with a safe driver behind the wheel. Karp wouldn’t say that would ultimately lead to full driverless performance. Traffic will be restricted in certain areas of Tokyo, including Minato, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Chiyoda, Chūō, Shinagawa, and Kōtō.

In bringing its cars to a foreign country for the first time, Alphabet is trying to show confidence in its technology, especially at a time when companies are withdrawing from expensive robotics activities. General Motors recently announced that it will no longer sponsor Cruise and will instead focus on driver assistance technology and autonomous vehicles.

Many companies have tested their autonomous vehicles in Japan, but the country is very small compared to China and the US. Part of the problem seems to be that the local auto industry is focusing its testing on countries other than those of its origin. Toyota and Nissan both want to plant robots in China in cooperation with local workers.