Waymo and Toyota Will Begin Testing a Fleet of Autonomous bZ4X Vehicles in Japan in 2027
Today, we’re announcing the next phase of our autonomous driving collaboration with @ToyotaMotorCorp to scale a fleet of bZ4X autonomous vehicles in Japan, beginning with testing and validation in 2027. Read more about our partnership here: t.co/rQUBNvqJpX __ 本日、@ToyotaMotorCorpとの自動運転分野における協業を新たな段階へと進めることを発表します。2027年に開始する試験および検証を皮切りに、日本国内で「bZ4X」の自動運転フリートの拡大を進めてまいります。 パートナーシップの詳細はこちらをご覧ください：
Context
Pairing Waymo's driver with Toyota's mass manufacturing could let robotaxis scale beyond the US, starting with Japan and the UK, two right hand drive markets.
Waymo is Alphabet's self driving company and runs robotaxi services in several US cities. Toyota and Waymo first announced a preliminary agreement to explore working together on autonomous vehicles in April 2025. In September, Waymo and Japanese partners said they aim to launch a driverless taxi service in Tokyo in 2027.
Deep dive
Waymo said on Friday that it is announcing the next phase of its autonomous driving collaboration with Toyota, scaling a fleet of bZ4X autonomous vehicles in Japan, beginning with testing and validation in 2027.
The joint release on Toyota's newsroom says the deal builds on the preliminary agreement from April 2025, with deployment to the United Kingdom and other Waymo markets planned in the following years. Toyota will build the vehicles at its Takaoka plant in Aichi Prefecture, assembling the base car and integrating Waymo's hardware under one roof. The companies call it a milestone toward Japan's first fully autonomous ride hailing service using high volume, domestically made vehicles.
Reuters reported that the companies did not say how many vehicles they would deploy at first or where in Japan, and that Toyota said initial operations would involve a small number of cars. Waymo co CEO Dmitri Dolgov told reporters the companies would start with right hand drive markets in Japan and the UK. Waymo still plans a pilot with its Jaguar I PACE vehicles in Japan in 2027.
The companies also said they will keep exploring autonomy for personally owned Toyota vehicles. TechCrunch described the deal for now as closer to a conventional vehicle supply agreement.
What to expect next
Watch for where in Japan the first bZ4X vehicles run and how many Toyota builds, plus regulatory approvals for driverless service. A UK launch depends on permits there. The larger question is whether the partnership extends to autonomy in personally owned Toyota cars, which would be a far bigger market than robotaxis. Rivals like Tesla and Chinese robotaxi firms are also racing to expand abroad.