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Waymo will begin test its self-governing vehicle engineering in Tokyo in former 2025 , the first time the Alphabet company ’s robotaxis have driven on public road outside the U.S.
The move to Japan is part of Waymo ’s “ route trips , ” a development program that involve bestow its technology to a variety of cities and quiz it — with each city having dissimilar challenges . In Tokyo , the Waymo robotaxis will face up left-hand - hand drive and a dense urban environs .
Until now , those route trip have centre on a twelve U.S. cities , usually to screen out specific status or environments such as rain in Miami or extreme passion in Death Valley , California . The company also has test its vehicles in Buffalo ; Washington , D.C. ; Las Vegas ; and Seattle . Typically , Waymo set about by bringing a small fleet to a city , where a human manually drive the vehicle and map certain region . The vehicles will eventually test in self-directed mode , at first with a human manipulator behind the wheel .
Waymo said it will partner with taxi - hailing app GO and taxi company Nihon Kotsu as part of its Nipponese “ route head trip . ” Nihon Kotsu will manage the direction and service of the Waymo vehicle , according to the fellowship .
ab initio , Nihon Kotsu driver will go the vehicles manually to map central areas of the Japanese capital , include Minato , Shinjuku , Shibuya , Chiyoda , Chūō , Shinagawa , and Kōtō . Waymo say it is working with Nihon Kotsu ’s team to direct its employees how to operate Waymo ’s ego - drive Jaguar I - Pace vehicle .
The announcement comes just a week since GM say it wouldscrap its Cruise robotaxi program , a decision that also ended plans to launch a driverless drive - hailing Robert William Service in Japan with partner Honda . In October 2023 , Honda , Cruise , and GM announced plans to found a robotaxi service inTokyo together in 2026using Cruise ’s purpose - built robotaxis called The Origin .
