Self-Driving Taxis to Begin Test Runs in Tokyo; Waymo, Others to Operate 25 Vehicles in Various Wards

The Yomiuri Shimbun

6:00 JST, April 12, 2025

Three companies including Waymo LLC, a self-driving vehicle company affiliated with Google LLC’s parent Alphabet Inc., announced Thursday that they will begin test runs of self-driving taxis in Tokyo from Monday.

Taxi drivers belonging to Nihon Kotsu Co., a major taxi company in Tokyo, will drive 25 such vehicles in Chiyoda, Minato and five other wards as part of preparations to introduce the self-driving cars into service. The cars are equipped with cameras and radars to collect data such as road conditions as part of efforts to adapt self-driving technology to Japan’s traffic rules.

On Thursday, a demonstration run of a self-driving vehicle was held at Takanawa Gateway City in Minato Ward. Ichiro Kawanabe, chairman of Go Inc., the operator of taxi-dispatch app “GO,” said, “We will proceed with absolute safety to secure transportation methods in Japan, which is facing a declining birthrate, an aging population and labor shortage.”