Waymo’s Tokyo plan targets 100 autonomous vehicles by 2027
Key Facts
Waymo and its two Japanese partners are targeting the launch of a commercial autonomous taxi service in Tokyo during 2027, starting with a small fleet before expanding to about 100 vehicles in key neighborhoods, the company and its partners said. The target sets a timetable for the Japan plan, but does not mean the service is ready to operate: Waymo said fully autonomous rides depend on approval from national and local authorities and completion of validation of the technology and joint operations. In Japan, the company is working with taxi app GO and Nihon Kotsu, its local partners in the Tokyo plan. Waymo said Nihon Kotsu staff would sit behind the wheel during the initial phase. The plan therefore begins with a locally staffed operating phase before the targeted transition to fully autonomous rides for the public.
Waymo said the service would be available through the GO and Waymo apps, and would launch with an initial fleet before gradually expanding to about 100 vehicles in key Tokyo neighborhoods. That reflects a phased expansion after the start, rather than a launch of the target fleet all at once. The company said the target for the first fully autonomous rides for the public is 2027, but remains conditional on meeting national and local authorities’ requirements. The timetable also depends on completing ongoing validation of Waymo’s technology and joint operations with its Japanese partners. The company did not specify a more precise date within the year or the size of the fleet at launch in the information released.
Toyota’s connection with Waymo dates to an initial agreement announced by the companies on April 29, 2025, to explore collaboration to accelerate the development and deployment of autonomous driving technologies. Waymo said the two parties aim to combine their strengths to develop a new autonomous vehicle platform. The announced concept included Woven by Toyota as Toyota’s strategic enabler in the potential collaboration. But the announcement described the agreement as exploratory and did not specify its scope. It made no mention of supplying bZ4X vehicles to Waymo’s fleet, and therefore does not by itself establish an arrangement to provide the company with robotaxis.
In London, Waymo announced a path separate from its Japanese collaboration, saying in October 2025 that it intended to offer rides without a human driver during 2026. Testing of its vehicles began on the streets of the British capital with a human safety driver behind the wheel, the company said. Operating the service there requires national approval from the UK Department for Transport and local approval from Transport for London, under the automated passenger service permit scheme. Waymo said it was working with both bodies to ensure its operations align with their goals, and that it hoped to join London’s transport network through the government permit scheme. The UK government opened applications for the pilot programme to operators on May 22, 2026, saying local authorities, including Transport for London, would also need to grant local approval.
The UK Department for Transport said its pilot programme allows autonomous cars and buses onto British roads, and named Wayve among the companies that could bring the technology to market. In a statement by the department in May 2026, Waymo said it looked forward to offering a fully autonomous ride-hailing service in the UK. The government also said the company was serving riders in 11 major metropolitan areas in the United States and providing more than 500,000 rides a week at the time of the statement. The figure puts London’s ambition in the context of an existing service in U.S. cities, but does not change the UK licensing requirements or Waymo’s targeted launch date. London’s plan remains tied to the national and local permitting process, while the 2027 Tokyo launch depends on Japanese authorities’ approvals and operational validation.
In trading, Toyota’s U.S.-listed shares, trading under the ticker TM, closed at $196.63 on October 29, 2026, according to EL7 data. The data provided do not include a session high or low, so the closing price is the only available trading figure. The price alone does not establish a market response to any specific announcement about collaboration between Waymo and Toyota. In the context of Japan, EL7 published a report on September 15, 2026, about Waymo’s plan to launch a self-driving taxi in Tokyo by 2027, the same target date cited in the latest announcement about the commercial service. The timing of fully autonomous rides remains subject to approvals and completion of validation of the technology and joint operations.