Waymo, GO and Nihon Kotsu aim to run Tokyo’s first empty taxis in 2027

Alphabet’s Waymo, taxi-app operator GO and Tokyo fleet company Nihon Kotsu said on Tuesday they intend to launch Japan’s first fully driverless commercial taxi service in Tokyo in 2027. The cars would run without a safety driver from the first public day, bookable on both the GO app and the Waymo app, subject to regulators and to further validation of the system on Tokyo streets.

The partners have been testing on public roads in seven wards since 2025, first with human drivers collecting data and then with Nihon Kotsu crew riding along. The initial vehicle is the battery Jaguar I-PACE fitted with Waymo’s fifth-generation Driver. The plan is to start small and grow toward about 100 cars in central neighbourhoods. GO shares rose as much as 9.7% on the announcement. The stock is up more than 40% since its June listing.

Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana told a Tokyo briefing that the service would be unmanned for the public from day one and that the fleet would grow “until anyone in Tokyo can download an app and take a ride.” A company note said the cars would complement the city’s rail network and help with an ageing population and a thinner taxi workforce. GO will handle the fit with local operators. Nihon Kotsu will run the operation.

Not the only robotaxi file in town

Japan already has automated buses on fixed routes under limited conditions. An app-hailed taxi that can take any legal street in the service area is a different problem: bicycles, night alleys, construction, typhoon rain. Nissan and Uber have said they will trial robotaxis in Tokyo in the second half of this year. Waymo’s claim is that its 2027 service would be the first fully driverless taxi on Japanese public roads.

The company has been expanding inside the United States and is preparing a London service. Tokyo is the first Asian city it has named for a commercial launch. The 2024 cooperation agreement among the three firms is now a dated target rather than a research memorandum. Approvals still sit with Japanese transport authorities. The 100-car figure is a ceiling they will grow toward, not a day-one order.

Whether commuters treat an empty Jaguar as a taxi or as a novelty will be decided after the first winter of real rain and the first week of Golden Week traffic. Until then the news is the date and the partners: 2027, GO, Nihon Kotsu, and a company that already runs robotaxis in American cities choosing Tokyo as its first paid street outside the United States.