You’ve probably already heard about Waymo and its autonomous taxi fleet that’s been roaming the streets in the US. Well, it has already announced its partnership with Toyota to challenge Tesla back in May 2025, but now the two companies are moving forward and have announced their new project in Japan.
Toyota and Waymo started testing bZ4X robotaxis at the Takaoka plant in Toyota City, where the companies are equipping the vehicles with Waymo’s hardware and software. After all validations are complete and the fleet earns Level 4 autonomous driving approvals, the two companies will release the driverless bZ4X vehicles in Japan as early as 2027. The duo will then scale its service worldwide, starting with right-hand drive markets like the UK.
It’s important to note that Waymo started testing autonomous Jaguar I-Pace vehicles in Tokyo last year, and taxi drivers from Nihon Kotsu Co. are driving the cars around the city to train the AI.
Waymo is expected to launch its first fleet in Tokyo next year, but we don’t know when it will add the bZ4X to the existing fleet.
