Toyota and Waymo advance autonomous driving collaboration for safer streets and freedom of movement for all
Companies to begin scaling fleet of Toyota bZ4X autonomous vehicles in Japan in 2027, paving the way for the country’s first domestically manufactured fully autonomous ride-hailing service.
Tokyo, JAPAN, 30 October 2026 ― Toyota Motor Corporation (“Toyota”) and Waymo today announced the next phase of their autonomous driving collaboration, in pursuit of a world with safer streets and freedom of movement for all.
Building on the preliminary agreement announced in April 2025, Toyota and Waymo will begin initial operations to test and validate an autonomous Toyota bZ4X fleet in Japan in 2027, with deployment to the United Kingdom and other Waymo-serviced markets planned for the following years. This partnership marks a major milestone in the expansion of Japan’s first fully autonomous ride-hailing service using high-volume, domestically manufactured vehicles.
Toyota will build the vehicles at its Takaoka plant in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The entire process will take place under one roof, from assembling the base vehicle to integrating Waymo’s AV hardware.
By pairing Toyota’s global manufacturing and vehicle development expertise with Waymo’s fully autonomous technology, the companies will accelerate scaling safety-validated Level 4 autonomous vehicles globally — helping provide people with transit that reduces human-error accidents, and opening up freedom of movement for those who can’t easily get around.
Beyond safety, the custom-outfitted bZ4X is designed for comfort and greater accessibility. Generous rear legroom and features such as automatic doors, a power liftgate and ambient lighting will provide seamless entry and exit for riders.
Toyota and Waymo will continue to explore the future of autonomous driving technology for personally owned Toyota vehicles. Alongside Woven by Toyota, they will also explore additional initiatives that support their shared goal of fewer road safety incidents, including how insights from Waymo’s real-world operations, data-driven intelligence, and technology could holistically improve safety for other road users.
Toyota’s commitment to zero traffic accidents resonates deeply with us at Waymo, and we’re proud to work together toward safer roads for all. In areas where Waymo operates, we’ve demonstrated that we are up to 20x safer than human drivers when it comes to serious crash injuries, and our partnership with Toyota will help us bring the safety and convenience of autonomous driving to more people around the world, including key international markets like Japan. We chose Toyota because of our respect for the legendary safety, reliability, and quality of their vehicles, and we look forward to deepening our collaboration as we scale our fully autonomous Waymo Driver technology globally.
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.
Toyota Motor Europe NV/SA (TME) oversees the wholesale sales and marketing of Toyota, GR (Gazoo Racing) and Lexus vehicles and parts and accessories, as well as Toyota’s European manufacturing and engineering operations. Toyota directly employs over 25,000 people and has invested over EUR 13 billion in Europe since 1990. Its eight European manufacturing plants are located in Portugal, the UK, France, Poland, Czech Republic and Turkey. Today, there are approximately 15. 6 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles on European roads, whose drivers are supported by a network of 28 National Marketing and Sales Companies and around 2,300 retail sales outlets in 53 countries (EU, UK, EFTA countries , Israel, Turkey and other Eastern European countries). In 2025, TME sold 1,229,000 vehicles in Europe for a 7.2% market share. For more information, visit www.toyota-europe.com.
Toyota believes that when people are free to move, anything is possible. In the pursuit of "Mobility for All", Toyota aims to create safer, more connected, inclusive and sustainable mobility to achieve its mission of producing “Happiness for All”. In Europe, TME launched the KINTO mobility brand which offers a range of mobility services in 20 countries, and is growing its business-to-business sales of fuel cell products and engineering support. Contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Toyota is working to achieve carbon neutrality in its entire business across Europe by 2040.