Self-driving
Waymo and Toyota said they would start testing self-driving Toyota bZ4X electric cars in Japan in 2027, then plan to expand to the UK and other right-hand drive markets.
A dated step forward on the record · Company-reported
What the source says
“the companies have announced that they will start testing an autonomous fleet of Toyota bZ4X electric vehicles in Japan sometime in 2027”
What it means
Waymo, from Waymo (Alphabet), is at stage 5 of 5 on our ladder: regulator-cleared or mass market. Its stage is set by other milestones on its record; this one adds to the history. This line rests on the company's own announcement; no regulator, customer or independent report confirms it in our sources yet.
Human help: People working remotely can steer it or take over.
More on Waymo
- Waymo said it was adding nearly 250 square miles of driverless service area over the next week across Los Angeles, Nashville, Orlando, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area.
- Waymo restarted its service in San Antonio, about five months after the flood pause.
- Waymo opened its service to the public in Las Vegas, its 15th market, after Nevada's Transportation Authority allowed up to 1,000 of its robotaxis there.
- Waymo opened its service in Denver, San Diego and Tampa, inviting riders a few at a time. That made 14 US cities.
- Teslarati reported that Waymo's fully driverless service in Houston, with nobody in the driver's seat, had been open to the public since August 2026.
- Waymo filed a recall with NHTSA for 3,871 vehicles because they could drive at speed into freeway construction zones. The fix is a software update.