Toyota, Waymo to test autonomous bZ4Xs in Japan in 2027, eye overseas expansion

TOKYO, Oct 30 : Toyota Motor and Alphabet's Waymo will begin testing autonomous electric vehicles in Japan in 2027, the companies said on Friday, with deployment in Britain and potentially other markets planned in subsequent years.

Here are more details:

• Waymo will use its partnership with Toyota and the automaker's bZ4X model to take its autonomous-driving technology to a large-scale commercial operation, Waymo co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov said

• "We'll start with the right-hand drive markets in Japan and the UK," Dolgov said. "I think the vision and the strategic partnership is to extend that beyond that, but we don't have any other countries or timelines or specifics to share"

• Toyota CTO Hiroaki Nakajima said the automaker also made left-hand-drive vehicles, including the bZ4X, and wanted to gain experience in Japan before pursuing broader opportunities

• Toyota will build the vehicles at its Takaoka plant in central Japan, where Waymo's autonomous-driving hardware will also be installed

• Waymo is currently testing Jaguar I-PACE vehicles in Japan and still plans a pilot using them in 2027, Dolgov said

• Companies did not disclose how many bZ4Xs they would initially deploy or where in Japan they would operate. Nakajima said initial operations would involve a small number of vehicles

• Toyota and Waymo originally announced in April 2025 that they would explore collaborating on the development of a new autonomous vehicle platform