Toyota to build Waymo robotaxis in Japan, with test fleet from 2027 and later service in the UK
Toyota and Waymo say they will begin testing a fleet of self-driving Toyota bZ4X electric cars in Japan in 2027, built at Toyota's Takaoka plant with Waymo's hardware fitted on the production line, and plan to deploy them in the UK and other Waymo markets in later years.
Toyota and Alphabet’s self-driving unit Waymo announced on Friday 30 October that they will begin testing and validating a fleet of autonomous Toyota bZ4X electric cars in Japan in 2027, the next step in a partnership first agreed in April 2025.
The companies said deployment to the United Kingdom and other markets where Waymo operates is planned “for the following years”. They gave no dates or fleet sizes. Toyota said the project would lead to Japan’s first fully autonomous ride-hailing service using high-volume, domestically made vehicles.
Toyota will build the cars at its Takaoka plant in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, where Waymo’s self-driving hardware will be fitted during assembly, “under one roof”, the companies said. The custom bZ4X will have extra rear legroom, automatic doors and a power tailgate. TechCrunch reported that Waymo has been testing Jaguar I-Pace cars in London for months and plans to launch a robotaxi service there once it receives the necessary permits.
“We chose Toyota because of our respect for the legendary safety, reliability, and quality of their vehicles,” said Waymo co-chief executive Dmitri Dolgov. He said Waymo’s data showed its cars were up to 20 times safer than human drivers on serious-injury crashes in the areas where it operates; that figure is the company’s own.
Hiroki Nakajima, a Toyota executive vice president, said: “No single company can achieve the goal of zero traffic accidents alone.” The companies said they would also keep exploring self-driving technology for privately owned Toyota cars, together with Toyota’s software unit Woven by Toyota.
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