By building Waymo’s robotaxis itself, Toyota gains a role in driverless ride-hailing without developing its own full autonomy stack
Toyota and Waymo will begin testing and validating a fleet of autonomous Toyota bZ4X SUVs in Japan in 2027, with the vehicles built at Toyota’s Takaoka plant. Deployment in the UK and other Waymo markets is planned to follow in later years.
Takaoka will handle both base-vehicle assembly and fitting of Waymo’s self-driving hardware, giving Waymo a high-volume manufacturing partner for its level 4 system. The ride-hailing version adds extra rear legroom, automatic doors and a power liftgate.
The two companies will also keep studying autonomy for privately owned Toyota models, which would take Waymo’s technology beyond its own fleet. With Woven by Toyota, they will look at how Waymo’s operating data could make roads safer for other users.
In a statement, Hiroki Nakajima, Member of the Board of Directors and Executive Vice President of Toyota, said: “We are deeply grateful that Waymo, which helped pioneer fully autonomous driving technology, has chosen Toyota as its partner. Safety technology makes the biggest difference when it reaches as many people as possible.
“This collaboration will help scale that technology and bring it to customers in Japan and beyond through Waymo’s ride-hailing service, and in parallel, Toyota will continue to explore how integrating vehicles with traffic infrastructure can make those roads safer still. No single company can achieve the goal of zero traffic accidents alone, but with partners like Waymo, we will get there one step at a time.”
Source: Toyota
