Waymo's next robotaxi will be built by the world's largest automaker. Under a partnership announced on Friday, October 30, Toyota will manufacture the 2027 bZ4X electric vehicle and integrate Waymo's self-driving system at its Takaoka factory in Japan, putting the base vehicle and the autonomous hardware together under one roof instead of retrofitting finished cars after they leave the line.
Testing and validation of the autonomous bZ4X fleet will begin in Japan in 2027, starting with a small number of vehicles, according to Toyota board member and executive vice president Hiroki Nakajima. Waymo intends to eventually operate a commercial robotaxi service in Japan, and the companies describe the project as a milestone toward the country's first fully autonomous ride-hailing service built on high-volume, domestically manufactured vehicles.
Japan is only the first stop. Because the bZ4X is built at Takaoka in right-hand-drive form, the same vehicles are intended for other markets where traffic keeps left, above all the United Kingdom. "We'll start with the right-hand drive markets in Japan and the UK," Waymo co-chief executive Dmitri Dolgov said. Waymo has already been testing autonomous Jaguar I-Pace vehicles in London for months and plans to launch a robotaxi service there once it receives the necessary permits.
The deal turns a vague courtship into a production plan. Toyota and Waymo signed a preliminary agreement in April 2025, some 18 months ago, that committed them only to exploring an autonomous vehicle platform together. That earlier announcement named no vehicle, no factory and no timeline. Friday's announcement supplies all three, with Toyota's software arm, Woven by Toyota, involved in the collaboration.
Factory integration matters because of how Waymo has built its fleet until now. Its current vehicles, including Jaguar I-Pace crossovers and Zeekr-built minivans, are outfitted with self-driving hardware at a facility in Mesa, Arizona. Building the sensor suite into the car on Toyota's own assembly line should be easier to scale and cheaper per vehicle as volumes grow, and it gives Waymo a supply of vehicles tailored to markets its American-built fleet does not naturally fit. Toyota also joins Hyundai as a Waymo manufacturing partner; Hyundai agreed in October 2024 to build Waymo-equipped IONIQ 5 crossovers at its plant in Georgia.
The partnership may not stop at robotaxis. The two companies said they will keep looking at bringing Waymo's autonomous technology to personally owned Toyota vehicles, and at further projects that use lessons from Waymo's real-world operations to improve safety for other road users. "This collaboration will help scale that technology and bring it to customers in Japan and beyond through Waymo's ride-hailing service," Nakajima said in a statement.
Plenty remains undisclosed. Neither company shared financial terms, how many bZ4X robotaxis Toyota will build, or when paying passengers in Japan or Britain might ride in one. Commercial launches in both countries still depend on regulatory permits. Even so, the direction is clear: Waymo's expansion abroad will ride on vehicles built where they will drive, by a partner that already knows how to build them by the million.