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Waymo, GO and Nihon Kotsu Target Driverless Robotaxi Launch in Tokyo in 2027

September 15, 2026 at 00:52 EDT

Robotics

Waymo, GO and Nihon Kotsu have agreed to prepare a fully driverless commercial robotaxi service in Tokyo in 2027, moving Alphabet's autonomous-driving unit from supervised local testing toward public rides in one of the world's most complex urban transport markets. The partners say the service will begin with an initial fleet and expand gradually to around 100 vehicles, pending regulatory approvals and final safety validation.

2027 · Waymo, GO, Nihon Kotsu

Tokyo's Driverless Taxi Test Becomes a Launch Plan

The partners aim to move from supervised autonomous driving to public fully driverless robotaxi rides in Tokyo, starting with an initial fleet and expanding toward around 100 vehicles.

2027

Target for first fully autonomous public rides

100

Planned vehicle scale after gradual expansion

500k+

Waymo trips delivered each week

Central Tokyo wards in earlier mapping work

Safety claim, drawn to scale

human baseline

15x+

Waymo claim

Waymo says its driver has been demonstrated to be more than 15 times safer than human drivers, a central argument for entering Tokyo only after staged validation.

Path to public rides

Map Tokyo

Collect local road data in central wards.

→

Supervised autonomy

Run with trained Nihon Kotsu crew members.

→

Launch pending approval

Serve riders through GO and Waymo apps.

Why it matters

The service could add a driverless option to Tokyo's transport mix while addressing late-night availability, aging demographics and future driver shortages.

What is unresolved

Fares, launch neighborhoods and the exact start date are not announced, and the timeline depends on permits and final validation.

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