Picture Michiko, 74, standing outside her apartment in Tokyo’s Koto Ward on a rainy Tuesday night. She stopped driving five years ago after her eyesight changed. Twice a week she needs a cab to reach physical therapy, and lately the wait stretches past twenty minutes, even with three taxi apps open at once. Japan simply doesn’t have enough drivers anymore. The Waymo Tokyo robotaxi plan hopes to change that for her, and for millions of riders like her.
In mid-September, Waymo announced a partnership with Nihon Kotsu, a nearly century-old Tokyo taxi operator, and GO, Japan’s leading ride-hailing app. Together they plan to bring fully driverless robotaxis to Tokyo by 2027, Waymo’s first stop in Asia.
Why Tokyo Needs More Drivers, Not Fewer
Japan’s taxi workforce has shrunk by roughly 20 percent since 2019. Nippon.com tracked the slide to about 230,000 drivers nationwide, many nearing retirement with few replacements. The result is longer waits, especially at night and during rush hour, exactly when riders like Michiko need a cab most. Cutting even ten minutes off a twice-weekly wait adds up to more than eight hours saved a year, for one rider alone.
This deal reads differently than Waymo’s usual city rollout. It isn’t trying to out-compete Tokyo’s taxis. It’s trying to backfill a labor shortage that’s already hurting riders.
“Scaling autonomous mobility requires relentless dedication to safety and execution,” says Tekedra Mawakana, Waymo’s co-CEO.
What the Waymo Tokyo Robotaxi Means for Riders
Waymo vehicles have already driven supervised routes through Tokyo since 2025, with trained crew onboard while the technology learns the city’s narrow backstreets. Public rides start in 2027, first through the GO app people already use to hail a cab, with the fleet growing toward roughly 100 vehicles.
For riders, that shift could mean:
- Shorter waits during the exact hours when human drivers are hardest to find
- A dependable option for people who’ve stopped driving but still need to get around
- One more safe way home after a late shift, a hospital visit, or a delayed train
Waymo’s own crash data puts its serious-injury rate at more than 15 times lower than human drivers, based on its U.S. mileage. That record is a big reason Japanese regulators are willing to let the company test in a city as dense as Tokyo. Its Las Vegas robotaxi service already leans on that same data to win over skeptical riders.
Not everyone is convinced Tokyo needs this. SoraNews24 pointed out that Tokyo’s trains and buses already run on time, so a driverless cab won’t out-compete transit on convenience alone. Fair point, but it misses who needs this most: older adults with mobility limits, night-shift workers, and parents juggling kids and luggage, all of whom have waited in the rain for a cab that never showed.
A Preview for Every Aging City
Japan has one of the oldest populations on earth, so this matters well beyond Tokyo. It isn’t Waymo’s first try at Japan’s mobility gaps, either. Months earlier, May Mobility’s driverless shuttles started filling in for Japan’s vanishing rural bus routes, a similar bet that autonomous vehicles can reach riders traditional transit leaves behind.
If a driverless fleet can prove itself on some of the world’s most complex streets, it gets easier for other cities with shrinking driver pools and aging riders to follow. Watch the 2027 launch closely: if Waymo hits that date and keeps its safety numbers intact, this won’t just be a Tokyo story. It will be a preview of how aging cities everywhere plan to keep their residents moving.