Toyota and Waymo announced on Friday, October 30, that they will begin testing autonomous electric vehicles in Japan in 2027, with deployment in Britain and possibly other markets planned in later years. The vehicle is Toyota’s bZ4X electric SUV, fitted with Waymo’s self-driving technology.
The announcement turns a relationship that began in April 2025, when the two companies said they would explore a new autonomous vehicle platform together, into a concrete production plan. Toyota will build the vehicles at its Takaoka plant in central Japan, where Waymo’s autonomous-driving hardware will also be installed.
Installing sensors and computing hardware at the factory is a notable choice. Robotaxis have traditionally been assembled by taking a finished vehicle and adding the autonomy system afterward. Building the hardware into the production process can simplify quality control and reduce the engineering required after a vehicle leaves the line.
Waymo co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov said the company will use the partnership and the bZ4X to take its technology to large-scale commercial operation. “We’ll start with the right-hand drive markets in Japan and the UK,” he said, adding that the aim is to extend beyond them. “We don’t have any other countries or timelines or specifics to share,” Dolgov said.
Toyota chief technology officer Hiroki Nakajima noted that Toyota also makes left-hand-drive vehicles, including the bZ4X, and that the company wants to gain experience in Japan before pursuing broader opportunities. Initial operations will involve a small number of vehicles.
The bZ4X is sold in the United States as the bZ, and Toyota will build the robotaxi version on the same assembly run as standard bZ4X models. That shared line is part of the appeal: the robotaxi benefits from the quality systems and production scale of a mainstream electric vehicle program rather than a low-volume specialty build.
The new program sits alongside work Waymo has already started. The company is testing Jaguar I-PACE vehicles in Japan, and Dolgov said it still plans a 2027 pilot using them. Waymo also plans fully driverless commercial service in Tokyo in 2027, separate from the bZ4X program, and Tokyo is part of its international roadmap, which Autonomy Magazine covered when Waymo announced its plans for Madrid and outlined launches in London and Tokyo.
Having two vehicle platforms in the pipeline gives Waymo flexibility. The I-PACE is the model that carries riders in its current U.S. cities, while the bZ4X offers a path to higher volume built by a global automaker with an established manufacturing network. Toyota says its robotaxi work is separate from its plans for driver-assist features in privately owned vehicles, which include vehicle-to-infrastructure technology.
Several specifics are still to come. The companies have not said how many bZ4X vehicles will take part in the initial tests or in which Japanese cities they will operate. Financial terms, production targets and the timing for paying riders are also details to come, as is the question of how much dedicated capacity Takaoka will assign to the program.
That is typical for the early stage of a vehicle program. A testing phase in 2027 gives both companies room to validate the hardware integration, the safety case and the operating model before choosing a path to scale.
The focus on right-hand-drive markets reflects practical realities. Japan and the United Kingdom both drive on the left, and a vehicle designed for those roads can be built once and used in both. The pairing of a Japanese automaker with an American autonomy company also fits the countries’ different strengths, with Toyota bringing manufacturing scale and Waymo bringing years of driverless operating experience.
Japan is also a market with strong interest in autonomous mobility. Its population is aging, and some regions face shortages of drivers for taxis and buses. A robotaxi service built on a trusted domestic vehicle brand could appeal to riders and regulators alike.
Riders in Japan are unlikely to see these vehicles immediately. The 2027 testing phase is a validation step, and the companies have said the initial fleet will be small. That measured pace gives the partners time to confirm that the factory-installed hardware performs as designed on Japanese roads, with their narrow streets, dense pedestrian traffic and distinctive signage.
Robotaxi competition is increasingly about supply chains as much as software. Waymo has expanded across U.S. cities and is adding territory in several markets at once. Pairing with Toyota adds a high-volume manufacturing partner to the mix and gives the company a second source of vehicles beyond its existing fleet.
For Toyota, the program offers a way to bring the robotaxi category into its electric lineup without changing its approach to customer vehicles. For the autonomous systems industry, it is another sign that driverless ride-hailing is moving from pilot fleets toward production lines, with the first test vehicles scheduled to arrive in Japan in 2027.
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