Tokyo’s First Empty Cab: Waymo Aims for Driverless Taxis in 2027

Alphabet’s Waymo, Japanese taxi-app operator GO, and taxi company Nihon Kotsu said they aim to launch Japan’s first fully autonomous commercial taxi service in Tokyo in 2027.

Kenji Watanabe, Asia desk

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A white autonomous robotaxi with a roof lidar on a European street with historic buildings.

RobotaxiZAGREBSept. 10, 2026

Pony.ai and Verne Open Fully Driverless Test Rides in Zagreb

Invited passengers can take driver-out trips on a 22-kilometer public-road route in the Croatian capital, which Pony.ai called a European first for its joint-deployment model.

Li Wei, China desk

A gold two-seat Tesla Cybercab robotaxi on a downtown Austin street, with no driver visible.

TeslaAUSTINSept. 4, 2026

Tesla Opens Cybercab Ride-Hailing in Austin

Customers in Austin can now book the two-seat, steering-wheel-free Cybercab in Tesla’s Robotaxi app. Texas lists 45 of the vehicles against a much larger Model Y robotaxi fleet.

Sam Okonkwo, Robotaxi

Empty cockpit of a gold Tesla Cybercab, showing no steering wheel.

SafetyWASHINGTONSept. 4, 2026

NHTSA Opens Audit of Tesla Cybercab Self-Certification

The U.S. safety regulator is examining the process and technical data Tesla used to certify a robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals, hours after commercial rides began in Austin.

Priya Nair, Safety

A purpose-built silver-white robotaxi with a roof lidar bar on a Chinese city avenue.

ChinaBEIJINGSept. 3, 2026

DiDi Starts Driverless Trials of Next-Gen R2 in Beijing and Guangzhou

DiDi Autonomous Driving opened fully driverless service trials of its R2 robotaxi, built with GAC Aion, for bookings in selected demonstration zones via the DiDi app.

Li Wei, China desk