Waymo, taxi giant Nihon Kotsu and mobility platform GO announced on September 14, 2026 that they have formally agreed to prepare a commercial fully autonomous ride-hailing service in Tokyo — set to begin serving public riders in 2027 and gradually expand to about 100 vehicles across key city neighborhoods.
Japan's First Commercial Driverless Taxi Service
The alliance targets Japan's first unmanned commercial robotaxi service, bookable through both the GO taxi app and Waymo's own app. "Scaling autonomous mobility requires relentless dedication to safety and execution," said Waymo Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana, noting that Waymo now delivers more than half a million trips per week and has been demonstrated to be over 15 times safer than human drivers across its 15 U.S. cities.
Century-Old Taxi Operator Teaches The Waymo Driver Tokyo
Since Waymo first arrived in Tokyo in 2025, vehicles have been driving autonomously under the supervision of trained Nihon Kotsu crew members, learning to navigate narrow neighborhood roads and dense crowds. "Our professionally trained drivers have spared no effort in helping the 'Waymo Driver' adapt to Tokyo's roads," said Nihon Kotsu President Yasuharu Wakabayashi, positioning the launch as a way to coexist with human-driven taxis while addressing Japan's looming driver shortage.
Regulatory Path And Fleet Growth
The 2027 timeline is contingent on securing regulatory approval from national and local authorities and completing validation of the Waymo Driver and joint operations. Riders will hail conventional taxis and Waymo autonomous trips from the same GO app. "We are launching as a full commercial service," said GO President Hiroshi Nakajima. The service will start with a small fleet before scaling to roughly 100 vehicles.
The Tokyo push extends Waymo's international ambitions after its rapid U.S. expansion to 14 cities and Pony.ai's driverless Zagreb pilot, and puts a large-city Asian launch on the calendar alongside Uber/Wayve in London.
Reporting based on coverage from Waymo's Waypoint blog, The Japan Times and Reuters.