原田工業 surged in September 2026, raising interest in autonomous driving and robotaxi stocks. We have organized the leading candidates and dark horses among the next potential investment opportunities and summarize developments in related stocks ahead of the first year of driverless taxis in Tokyo.
原田工業 rose to ¥899 on the Tokyo market, briefly hitting the daily upper price limit. Its share price had been trading in the ¥450 range around May, so it nearly doubled in roughly four months, suggesting that the autonomous vehicle theme attracted investment capital. There is also growing speculation that the theme was supported by earnings, with operating profit for the first quarter of the fiscal year ending March 2027 up 80% year on year to ¥1.63 billion.
In an announcement on 15 September, GO, Waymo and 日本交通 outlined plans to gradually expand commercial operations of Japan’s first Level 4 fully driverless taxis in Tokyo to approximately 100 vehicles during 2027. Waymo already has a track record operating autonomous vehicles in the United States, making this a genuine competitive factor.
Developments at other companies, including Uber and Tesla, are also gathering pace. Uber has announced plans to begin test operations in Tokyo in the second half of 2026 in partnership with Nissan, Renaissance in the UK and a Japanese taxi company. Tesla has unveiled a vehicle designed exclusively for robotaxi services, and activity related to robotaxis is expected to accelerate further.
The government has also set a target of a 25% share of global autonomous vehicle sales in the 2030s and expects public-private investment of ¥8.2 trillion in autonomous driving technology. The lineup of related stocks is also broadening, with GO listing in June and TIER IV listing in July.
This article profiles autonomous driving and robotaxi-related stocks divided into 10 leading candidates and 10 dark horses, covering the factors behind their selection, their relevance to the theme and their risks.