A plan was announced to launch fully driverless taxi operations in Tokyo in 2027. The focus is on the strategic partnership among GO, 日本交通 and Waymo, and the domestically developed “brain” of Japanese company TIER IV.
A plan was announced aiming for the day when “fully driverless taxis” will operate in Tokyo in 2027. On 15 September, GO, 日本交通 and Waymo formed a strategic partnership and are considering operations targeting a fleet of around 100 fully driverless vehicles in Tokyo.
The division of roles among the 3 companies is as follows: 日本交通 will handle on-the-ground operations management, depot operations and customer support; GO will oversee overall service design and coordination with local taxi operators; and Waymo will provide autonomous driving technology and a vehicle management system. This arrangement places customer touchpoints and management on the Japanese side, while concentrating the brain on the US side.
TIER IV CEO Kato Shinpei (加藤 真平) said that Japan’s path to victory would become visible if Level 4 autonomous driving could be achieved in a mass-production model, and stressed achieving it with domestically developed technology. The aim is to assess the impact of a US-developed brain on Japan’s automotive industry while effectively leaving the development of autonomous driving software unchanged.
In understanding trends in autonomous driving technology, the key will be the world models Waymo and TIER IV are pursuing and how they are applied to the Japanese market.