Waymo picks the Toyota bZ4X as its next robotaxi, with Japan tests in 2027 and the UK next

Waymo, the self-driving company owned by Google's parent Alphabet, will use Toyota's electric bZ4X SUV as its next robotaxi, starting with tests in Japan in 2027, TechCrunch reported on Friday.

What was agreed

• The car: the 2027 Toyota bZ4X, sold as the BZ in North America.
• Where it is built: Toyota will build it and fit Waymo's self-driving system at its Takaoka factory in Japan.
• First market: Japan, where Waymo wants to run a paid robotaxi service eventually.
• Next: other countries that drive on the left, such as the United Kingdom. Waymo has been testing Jaguar I-Pace cars in London for months and plans to launch there once it has the permits.

The two companies will also keep looking at putting Waymo's technology into Toyota cars that people buy for themselves, and at using data from Waymo's driving to improve road safety. Toyota executive vice president Hiroki Nakajima said the partnership would bring self-driving "to customers in Japan and beyond through Waymo's ride-hailing service."

The deal turns a preliminary agreement signed 18 months ago, which TechCrunch says was little more than a plan to explore, into a production car.

Why a left-hand-traffic car matters

Waymo's service has so far been built around American roads, where traffic keeps to the right. A car designed and built in Japan, where traffic keeps to the left as it does in Pakistan, Britain and much of South Asia, makes it easier to take the service to those markets.

The Pakistan angle

Robotaxis are a long way off on Pakistani roads, but the deal shows where the world's biggest carmaker is heading. For the electric and hybrid cars you can buy here today, see current prices on our car price list and work out running costs with the fuel cost calculator.