Toyota and Waymo plan to start testing and validating a fleet of autonomous Toyota bZ4X vehicles in Japan in 2027, advancing their work on vehicles for driverless ride-hailing. The companies plan deployments in the United Kingdom and other markets served by Waymo in subsequent years. Japan’s initial operations are for testing and validation; a date for public passenger service has not been disclosed.
Toyota will manufacture the vehicles at its Takaoka plant in Toyota City, in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture. That factory will handle both vehicle assembly and installation of Waymo’s autonomous driving hardware, bringing those production steps into a single facility. The companies say combining Toyota’s manufacturing and vehicle development capabilities with Waymo’s technology will help them expand production of Level 4 autonomous vehicles validated for safety.
The modified bZ4X will have automatic doors and a power liftgate, features the companies describe as part of their effort to make the vehicle more accessible and comfortable. Toyota and Waymo also describe a roomy rear seating area and ambient lighting among the vehicle’s passenger features. They say the autonomous transport they are developing is intended to reduce accidents caused by human error and help people who have difficulty getting around.
The fleet project builds on the companies’ preliminary agreement from April 2025. Alongside the ride-hailing work, Toyota and Waymo will keep examining how autonomous driving technology could be used in Toyota vehicles bought by individual owners. That work remains exploratory, with the companies describing it as a continuing area of study.
Woven by Toyota will join the partners in investigating further road safety initiatives. Those efforts will examine how experience from Waymo’s operating fleet, its technology and analysis of driving data could help protect other road users. Toyota also says it will continue studying how connections between vehicles and traffic infrastructure could improve road safety.
Waymo’s earlier expansion work in Sacramento involved manually driving electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles to learn streets and traffic patterns before a future passenger service. In Nashville, Waymo announced fully autonomous operations in February, with access initially centered on its own app before expansion to Lyft’s network.
