A Waymo car drives along a street on March 01, 2023 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Justin … More Sullivan/Getty Images)
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Waymo’s driverless cars are headed to Tokyo to chalk up their first kilometers on international roads — but it’s all about data collection, rather than driverless trips.
The 25 Jaguar I-PACE electric cars will feature Waymo One technology, but will be driver operated in order to let the Alphabet-owned company map Tokyo and better understand local roads, infrastructure, and driving habits.
“It’s important for us to understand the difference in driving environment, what makes the driving here unique,” said Nicole Gavel, Waymo’s head of business development and strategic partnerships, at an event in Tokyo, according to Reuters.
In a post on X.com, Waymo said the Tokyo trips across seven wards of the city would mark the system’s first kilometers on international roads, though the cars will be manually driven with Waymo technology on board — sort of like how the project first started in San Francisco back in 2009.
The international road trip highlights how much work is still needed to make a driverless car trained in one city work in another, a “generalizability” challenge that Waymo is trying to understand by sending vehicles across different US cities this year.
Tokyo, Japan will naturally be a bigger leap from San Francisco than closer-to-home expansions to LA or Austin; Waymo said recently that it was now providing 200,000 autonomous taxi rides each week, without a safety driver present at the wheel.
Next up, Waymo driverless in Japan?
That said, Waymo hopes that once the mapping phase is complete, the autonomous driving system can take over, though still with a test driver at the wheel. Gavel couldn’t say how long the initial phase would last.
“We’re just starting with the testing so that’s where we’re focused,” she said. “Longer term, obviously, we would love to have a business here in Tokyo.”
A Waymo autonomous self-driving Jaguar taxi is stopped at a light while driving along a street on … More March 14, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Beginning today, Waymo One is offering robotaxi services in a 63-square mile area of greater Los Angeles including Santa Monica, Venice and downtown with over 50,000 people on the wait list. Waymo is owned by Alphabet, Google’s parent company. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
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She added in a statement that the project would be following the same pattern as American tests, with a “commitment to safety, dedication to earning trust in communities where we operate, and collaboration with local officials and community groups here in Tokyo.”
Local partners for Waymo driverless
Waymo first announced the Japanese trips late last year, and has been working for months with local taxi firm Nihon Kotsu and mobility app maker Go.
“Our partner, Nihon Kotsu, Tokyo’s largest taxi company, will oversee the management and servicing of the Waymo vehicles,” Waymo said in a blog post last year. “The companies are working closely together to train Nihon Kotsu’s team on operating vehicles equipped with Waymo’s autonomous driving system. Initially, Nihon Kotsu drivers will operate the vehicles manually to map key areas of the Japanese capital, including Minato, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Chiyoda, Chūō, Shinagawa, and Kōtō.”
Beyond private partners, the project has also required working with government and first responders, too.
“We are engaging with Japanese policymakers, regulators, and local safety officials to ensure a responsible and seamless implementation of Waymo’s technology to Tokyo’s streets,” the blog post added.
Earlier this year, Waymo added 10 new cities including San Diego, Las Vegas and Washington DC, to its lineup of locations for driverless car testing, though as with Tokyo they won’t be offering commercial services but will be test rides with drivers behind the wheel.
AloJapan.com