Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

This will be interesting. As an aging nondriver living in Yokohama, I’ve been both hoping that self-driving cars become available here before I develop mobility issues and wondering how feasible they will be. Since I don’t drive, I don’t have a sense of what the roads here are like from the vehicle’s perspective. But many of the streets, including in the neighborhood where I live [1], are narrow, have no sidewalks, and are shared by cars, bicyclists, and pedestrians. Very different from, say, Phoenix.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;maps.app.goo.gl&#x2F;CVDYknAXeeA6u4DP8" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;maps.app.goo.gl&#x2F;CVDYknAXeeA6u4DP8</a>

Going to be very interesting to see how the Japanese people react to this. The service the taxi drivers provide when you take the taxi in Japan is on another level, such as waiting for you with the open door and closing the door for you as you enter. A driverless car will never be able to copy that. Japan also has very good public transportation reducing the need for a car for day to day travel so cost might be less of a factor.

That’s such a show of confidence! It’s an entirely different driving world over there. Particularly in terms of what is expected outside of what is mandated. Looking forward to trying it.

I guess the biggest challenge is gonna be not to get stuck in those narrow alleys that they call streets in Japan. Some of them can hardly take a kei car, let alone a sedan<p>I can already see in my imagination all the jijis swearing when they see those cars stuck :)

Not a full rollout, just initial test drives. Still a big step. Good to see Waymo scaling up over time.

I wonder how much this service costs. If it is as expensive as taxi services in Tokyo, it could fail. While I don’t think it’s possible for the cost to match that of a train, if this service materializes successfully, it could become the most disruptive innovation in Japan.<p>How about California or Phoenix?

I&#x27;ll be a self-driving believer when Waymo brings autonomous vehicles to New Delhi.<p>edit - This wasn&#x27;t ment as disparaging, but perhaps it came across that way. The traffic situation in New Delhi is NUTS. I wouldn&#x27;t trust myself to drive there, a local driver is a requirement and not a convenience. Crossing major streets as a pedestrian is hard enough, they key is to make eye contact with the driver about to run you over and exchange your intentions through microexpressions. Repeat that 30 times until you reach the other side of the road. Viewing a major intersection from above is like viewing two schools of fish seemlessly swiming through each other. And some of those fish are animal-drawn carts.<p>I&#x27;m in awe of the traffic situation on the subcontinent (as well as many other Indian things - like the word prepone!).

That explains a black Audi sedan and Toyota? SUV I&#x27;ve seen. I thought it didn&#x27;t like an Autoware setup, and also that an euro car is an odd choice as they tend to be harder to rig for an SDC.

Makes sense. High-tech country, robot-friendly, declining young population.

Curious whether they will open doors automatically. It&#x27;s a faux pas to try opening a taxi door yourself in Japan.

Is anyone working on autonomous busses or vans for public transport?

This gives me hope WayMo might come to the UK after Japan.

Yeah that should be wonderful for the traffic over there...

Individual autonomous cars will solve all transportation issues. What&#x27;s that? Trains? Trams? Efficient urban fabric? Things that Tokyo, gasp, already has? Bull.<p>&#x2F;s.