Toyota will build Waymo robotaxis on its bZ4X at Takaoka, with a test fleet in Japan from 2027

Toyota will build robotaxis for Waymo at its Takaoka plant in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, installing Waymo's self-driving hardware at the same plant where it assembles the base vehicle, the companies announced on Oct. 30. A fleet of autonomous Toyota bZ4X electric SUVs starts testing and validation in Japan in 2027, with the UK and other Waymo markets to follow in later years.

That makes the bZ4X a robotaxi body for two different self-driving systems. In China, the GAC Toyota joint venture in Guangzhou began mass-producing a bZ4X robotaxi for Pony.ai in February, with more than 1,000 units planned for this year, electrive reported. Toyota is selling the car to more than one autonomy company rather than betting on one.

Right-hand drive comes first

For Waymo, the deal answers a supply question. "We'll start with the right-hand drive markets in Japan and the UK," co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov said, according to Reuters. Toyota CTO Hiroki Nakajima noted that Toyota also builds left-hand-drive cars, the bZ4X among them, but said it wants experience in Japan first. The companies say the custom bZ4X has extra rear legroom, automatic doors, a power liftgate and ambient lighting.

The partnership reaches past robotaxis. Toyota and Waymo, which signed a preliminary agreement in April 2025, will look at autonomy for personally owned Toyota cars, and work with Woven by Toyota on road-safety projects, including how Waymo's operating data could help other road users. Dolgov repeated Waymo's claim that it is "up to 20x safer than human drivers" on serious-injury crashes where it operates.

The case against reading too much into it sits in the first fleet. Nakajima said it will be a small number of vehicles, and the companies named no count and no Japanese city. Waymo is already testing Jaguar I-Pace cars in Japan, and Dolgov said it still plans its 2027 pilot there with them. The Toyota is the car Waymo plans to scale on, not the one it starts with.