On December 17, Waymo, the autonomous driving subsidiary of Google's parent company Alphabet, announced that it will cooperate with Japan's traffic and taxi application GO to introduce autonomous vehicles in Tokyo, marking the start of Waymo's first international road trip.
Waymo stated that the company will adapt to Japan's left-hand traffic rules and the challenges of driving in densely populated urban environments. The first batch of pure electric Jaguar I-PACE cars is expected to arrive in Tokyo in early 2025, where they will be managed and maintained by Japan's largest taxi company, "Japan Traffic."
The two parties will jointly train the Japanese traffic team to operate vehicles equipped with Waymo's autonomous driving system. In the early stages of the project, Japan Traffic's drivers will manually operate the vehicles, collect map data, and provide the necessary information for the autonomous driving system.
Additionally, Waymo has reached a strategic partnership with Japan's popular taxi application GO, which may suggest that Waymo will gradually deploy its autonomous vehicles through local service providers in the future. However, Waymo spokesperson Sandy Karp clarified that there are currently no plans to offer autonomous taxi services to passengers in Tokyo.