An executive at Waymo, the autonomous driving technology developer under Alphabet, said on the 19th regarding business expansion in Japan, “We hope to launch service in Tokyo in the near future,” signaling strong intent to enter the Japanese market in earnest. While no specific service launch date was mentioned, the company has been conducting public road testing in Tokyo since 2025, working in partnership with ride-hailing app operator GO and Nihon Kotsu (Tokyo, Chiyoda).<\/p>\n
Shrikant Thirumalai, Vice President of Onboard Software, spoke at the online technical briefing. He pointed out that 1.4 million people die in traffic accidents globally each year, and more than 300,000 people are injured annually in Japan alone. “Creating the world’s most trusted driver\u2014one free from fatigue, anger, and distraction\u2014is Waymo’s reason for being,” he said.<\/p>\n
350 Million Kilometers of Driving Data and 94% Accident Reduction<\/p>\n
According to Thirumalai, Waymo vehicles have accumulated 350 million kilometers of total driving distance, with involvement in injury-causing accidents 94% lower than human drivers. Building on a track record of service deployment across more than 20 major cities worldwide, primarily in the United States, he stated, “We are making adjustments to adapt to Tokyo’s narrow streets and left-hand traffic,” revealing that adaptation to Japan’s unique road environment is progressing smoothly.<\/p>\n
In Japan, transportation gaps caused by a severe driver shortage have become a nationwide social issue. For Level 4 autonomous driving\u2014where no human is involved in operation under specific conditions\u2014Waymo is jointly acquiring map data with GO and Nihon Kotsu, aiming to launch autonomous taxi (robotaxi) services after vehicle adjustments and regulatory approval.<\/p>\n
A “Foundation Model” Architecture That Avoids the Black Box Problem<\/p>\n
Waymo’s autonomous driving technology, “Waymo Driver,” combines end-to-end (E2E) AI\u2014where artificial intelligence handles perception, decision-making, and control\u2014with rule-based technology where humans predefine conditions. Thirumalai explicitly rejected reliance on pure E2E AI that directly links sensor inputs to driving actions, stating it “creates a dangerous black box where the reasoning behind decisions is opaque.”<\/p>\n
Instead, the core of the system is the “Waymo Foundation Model,” which leverages the advanced reasoning capabilities of vision-language models. This foundation model replicates human cognitive processes across three layers.<\/p>\n
The three-layer architecture consists of a “fast layer” that integrates data from cameras, LiDAR, and radar to make instantaneous reflexive decisions; a “slow layer” that handles complex and rare situations through advanced semantic understanding and reasoning; and a “decoder layer” that converts processed information into trajectory generation and predictions required for actual driving. This structure aims to balance real-time responsiveness with safety.<\/p>\n
On the sensor configuration front, Waymo employs a multimodal approach that fuses LiDAR and radar rather than relying on cameras alone. By complementing each other’s weaknesses, the system ensures sufficient information volume and redundancy to handle adverse weather and rare events. High-precision maps are also positioned as a form of sensor or memory, serving as a reference baseline for comparison against the real-time environment.<\/p>\n
Dual Oversight System Eliminates AI Self-Evaluation<\/p>\n
To ensure safety, Waymo has built rigorous monitoring functions both inside and outside the system. The vehicle-side “onboard verification layer” instantly checks AI-generated driving trajectories against the laws of physics and traffic regulations. The off-vehicle “AI critic” continuously evaluates billions of miles of simulation and real-world driving data, handling automated quality control and safety improvement.<\/p>\n
The company has also built mechanisms to investigate why the AI made certain decisions after an accident occurs. “What determines the evolution of autonomous driving AI is the governance framework,” Thirumalai emphasized.<\/p>\n
Test Driving in Tokyo and Future Outlook<\/p>\n
Currently, Waymo vehicles are conducting autonomous test drives on public roads in Tokyo under partnerships with Nihon Kotsu and GO. To adapt to left-hand traffic, Japanese traffic signs, and narrow road environments, the company combines public road driving, closed-course testing, and high-fidelity simulation, collecting data on region-specific driving behaviors and passenger experiences while iterating on model tuning and validation.<\/p>\n
Thirumalai indicated that fine-tuning for Tokyo’s environment is progressing well, and expressed intent to launch robotaxi services in Tokyo in the near future once required safety standards are met and service launch approval is obtained. He emphasized Waymo’s commitment to providing trusted mobility solutions in Japan without compromising on safety standards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An executive at Waymo, the autonomous driving technology developer under Alphabet, said on the 19th regarding business expansion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[26184,1736,8,6332,37987,6331,49246,52,7239,49247,49248],"class_list":["post-76785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tokyo","tag-alphabet","tag-go","tag-japan","tag-level-4","tag-nihon-kotsu","tag-robotaxi","tag-shrikant-thirumalai","tag-tokyo","tag-waymo","tag-waymo-driver","tag-waymo-foundation-model"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}