Waymo has picked the Toyota bZ4X as its next robotaxi. Electrek reports that Toyota will build a custom version of the electric SUV with the Waymo Driver integrated on the production line in Japan, and that a test fleet will begin operating there in 2027.
What was announced
It is the first actual vehicle from the partnership the two companies signed in April 2025, which started as a preliminary agreement to explore working together on autonomous driving. According to Waymo’s announcement, as summarized by Electrek, Toyota will produce the vehicles at its Takaoka plant in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture. Waymo’s self-driving hardware will be installed and integrated at the same site rather than retrofitted elsewhere.
The robotaxi version gets rider-focused changes: extra rear legroom, automatic doors, a power liftgate and ambient lighting. Waymo did not share sensor specs, unit volumes or per-vehicle cost.
The rollout
- 2027: testing and validating the autonomous bZ4X fleet in Japan.
- Tokyo: in September, Waymo said it is targeting fully driverless commercial rides in Tokyo in 2027 with taxi operator Nihon Kotsu and app GO, scaling to about 100 vehicles, pending regulatory approval.
- Later: the UK and other Waymo markets, with no dates given.
Toyota and Waymo also say they will keep working on autonomous technology for Toyota’s personal vehicles, plus safety projects with Woven by Toyota. Nothing concrete has been announced on that front.
Why the factory-line approach matters
Electrek notes that Waymo’s US fleet is still mostly Jaguar I-Pace SUVs, a model Jaguar no longer produces, with the Zeekr-built Ojai van and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 being added. The bZ4X would be its fourth platform. Electrek also says Toyota and Pony.ai started mass-producing bZ4X-based robotaxis in China earlier this year.
My analysis: Waymo’s main constraint looks like vehicle supply, and a major automaker installing the driver hardware during assembly is a way to add capacity without Waymo building factories. The sources give no volumes, so how much capacity this adds is unknown.
Versus Tesla
Electrek contrasts this with Tesla’s approach, a two-seat Cybercab with no steering wheel, built in-house, and with an autonomy stack Tesla certifies itself. Electrek says that stack is not operating at anything close to Waymo’s scale. That is Electrek’s view. I have no Cybercab production timeline from the sources, so I am not comparing dates.
What US readers should know
The first cars are for Japan. For reference, Electrek says the refreshed model is sold in the US simply as the Toyota bZ, starting at $34,900. Waymo does over 500,000 paid rides a week across 15 US metros, and it has picked Toronto as its first Canadian city, with riders targeted for 2028.
If you are considering a bZ for home use, the robotaxi news changes nothing about home charging. Confirm the charge port type and onboard charger speed for the exact model year before choosing a Level 2 charger.
Sources
- Electrek: Waymo picks Toyota bZ4X as its next robotaxi, starting in Japan in 2027
- Waymo: Toyota bZ4X partnership
Photo: Matti Blume / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. It shows a standard bZ4X, not the robotaxi version.