Waymo plans to start driverless taxis in Tokyo in 2027. So which Japanese companies already play a role in running autonomous vehicles on Japan's roads? Katana kept 247 companies whose annual reports mention autonomous driving, and AI read each one and supported 7.
On September 15, Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving unit, announced a plan with the taxi company Nihon Kotsu and the ride-hailing app GO to start taxis without drivers in Tokyo in 2027. The service will start small and grow to about 100 vehicles. Waymo supplies the driving AI and the vehicles; Nihon Kotsu runs the depots and takes legal responsibility for accidents during driverless operation; GO handles dispatch.
Japan's government also aims to offer autonomous mobility services in at least 100 places by fiscal 2027.
Buses without drivers are already running on Japan's roads. In January 2026, Tobu Bus Central began paid Level 4 autonomous bus service in the Kashiwanoha area of Kashiwa, Chiba, the first on public roads in the Tokyo metropolitan area. The vehicle was a Japanese-made midsize bus converted for autonomous driving by Advanced Smart Mobility.
Talk of self-driving tends to focus on the race to build the AI that drives. But AI alone does not put a car on the road. It takes a company to operate the service and take responsibility for accidents, vehicles, high-definition road maps, and remote monitoring to watch over the cars from afar.
These roles are tied to Japan's roads, laws and local transport. Even in Waymo's Tokyo plan, Nihon Kotsu and GO run operations and dispatch. Both as part of the auto industry and as road infrastructure, being domestic should carry value.
So among companies whose annual reports mention autonomous driving, we used Katana to find those that describe a role in running autonomous vehicles on Japan's roads as a project with a named municipality or operator.
“We want companies that already play a role in running autonomous vehicles on roads in Japan, such as operating driverless vehicles, supplying vehicles, high-definition maps or remote monitoring, and that report a specific project with a named municipality, transport operator or automaker.”
We used a word condition to keep companies whose annual reports mention autonomous driving (自動運転) in the business description, business environment, discussion of results or R&D section, turned this profile into two questions entered in English, and had the AI read each report, question by question.
Katana computes its metrics for every company.
AI reads each annual report and judges support and counterevidence.
The questions were entered in English and judged in order.
read the filings and supported 7.
Of 247 companies, 7 were supported, 50 need review and 190 had counterevidence. Below are the 10, in order: operators, vehicles, maps, then remote monitoring.
Its bus company won approval for Level 4 autonomous driving in the Kashiwanoha area and started operating.Filing ↗
Ran an autonomous EV bus on a community route of about 18 km under an agreement with Tomigusuku city and four companies.Filing ↗
Supplied its Erga EV autonomous bus for a trial in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, from December 2025 to January 2026.Filing ↗
Took part in 17 of 67 regions selected for the infrastructure ministry's subsidy for putting autonomous driving into service.Filing ↗
Earns revenue by licensing high-definition 3D map data to automakers that build autonomous driving and driver-assistance systems.Filing ↗
Monitored and operated many autonomous vehicles across regions from one or a few centers.Filing ↗
Put five driverless load vehicles into round-the-clock use for pavement durability tests, a first in Japan.Filing ↗
Its Level 4 autonomous EV bus, EVO, runs regularly on public roads.Filing ↗
Supplies remote monitoring and passenger safety systems to trials, including Yokohama's Level 4 safe operation trial.Filing ↗
Has a strategic partnership with Waymo and Nihon Kotsu on developing autonomous driving.Filing ↗
Note: among those needing review, we added Macnica Holdings, which says its Level 4 autonomous EV bus runs regularly on public roads, and Daiichi Koutsu Sangyo, which ran an autonomous EV bus in Tomigusuku, Okinawa. GO had counterevidence, but we added it because its annual report describes its partnership with Waymo and Nihon Kotsu. At the time of the report, it still describes autonomous taxis as being in the trial stage.
View detailed resultsThese results are from October 24, 2026. Qualitative judgments use the filings available at that time, while quantitative screening uses the latest financial data.
Of the 247 companies that mention autonomous driving, 9 describe a role in running autonomous vehicles on Japan's roads as a project with a named municipality or operator: the 7 supported and the 2 we added from those needing review. Together, these 9 fill every role: operations, vehicles, maps and remote monitoring.
| Role | Companies | Example projects in reports |
|---|---|---|
| Operations | Tobu Railway, Daiichi Koutsu Sangyo | Level 4 in Kashiwanoha, paid service in Tomigusuku |
| Vehicles | Isuzu, ARCHION, Aisan, Macnica | Autonomous bus in Hiratsuka, trucks on the Shin-Tomei |
| Maps | Dynamic Map Platform | Licenses to automakers |
| Remote monitoring | Soliton, Tokai Rika | Kawachinagano, Level 4 in Yokohama |
Japanese maps also ride in cars abroad. Dynamic Map Platform has built high-definition 3D maps for 33,000 km of expressways in Japan and 1.5 million km in North America, and they are in 38 production car models, counting announced ones. Its largest customer is GM, at 42.8% of sales. Its report says its maps played a key role in developing and launching GM's hands-free Super Cruise.
GO, Waymo's partner in Tokyo, was judged as having counterevidence. At the time of its report, autonomous taxis were still trials in its “other” segment, with no sales yet. Even so, it says money raised in a July 2026 share issue goes mainly to research and development for putting autonomous taxis into service: securing land and test drivers, and buying vehicles. Sales of its core taxi app rose 31.8% to ¥41.4 billion.
Japanese companies are on the driving AI side, too. Aisan Technology deploys autonomous vehicles across Japan, including small EV buses from Tier IV, which listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth market in July 2026, and ARCHION ran trunk-route trials with Yamato Transport and Tier IV. Tier IV has led development of Autoware, open-source software for autonomous driving.
Still, on the driving AI side, no one is profitable yet, even abroad. Waymo passed 500,000 paid driverless rides a week, but Alphabet's Other Bets, which includes Waymo, lost $1.80 billion on $382 million of revenue in April to June 2026, up from a $1.25 billion loss a year earlier. China's Pony.ai says its robotaxis broke even per vehicle in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, but in October to December 2025 the company lost $73.9 million from operations against $6.7 million of robotaxi revenue.
No winner is settled yet, and every company is adding vehicles at a loss. Vehicles, operations, maps and remote monitoring, by contrast, are needed for every car, whoever's AI drives it. What Japanese companies have lined up are the roles that do not depend on who wins the AI race, and that are needed more as more cars run.
Complex theses, your own selection rules. Katana narrows companies with its own metrics, and AI reads annual reports to judge qualitative conditions. The selection you used to do one company at a time, AI now runs across the Japanese market.
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