Alphabet’s Waymo Is Bringing Autonomous Taxis to Japan. What It Means for Stock. By Al Root Last Updated: Dec. 17, 2024

Alphabet’s Waymo Is Bringing Autonomous Taxis to Japan. What It Means
for Stock.
By Al Root
Last Updated: Dec. 17, 2024 at 4:31 p.m. ET
First Published: Dec. 17, 2024 at 10:31 a.m. ET
8
Referenced Symbols
GOOGL
-0.63%
TSLA
+3.64%
BIDU
+2.08%
PONY
+0.94%
UBER
+1.29%
WRD
-2.13%
SPX
-0.39%
    DJIA
    -0.61%
Waymo autonomous self-driving Jaguar electric vehicles Photo: Patrick T.
Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
Alphabet
GOOGL
-0.63%
’s Waymo announced on Monday that it would be taking its self-driving
robo-taxis to Japan. Self-driving cars are here and they are spreading.
“The first Waymo, all-electric Jaguar I-PACEs will arrive in Tokyo in
early 2025,” reads part of Waymo’s blog post. “Our partner, Nihon Kotsu,
Tokyo’s largest taxi company, will oversee the management and servicing
of the Waymo vehicles.”
It’s a test run for Waymo in a new country. In the U.S., Waymo is
completing more than 150,000 driverless cab rides a week. Alphabet CEO
Sundar Pichai says Waymo will expand to about 10 cities in 2025 from Los
Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix today.
Pichai also calls Tesla
TSLA
+3.64%
“a leader” in the self-driving space. Tesla
TSLA
+3.64%
plans to launch a U.S. robo-taxi service late in 2025.
As Waymo expands and Tesla begins, Americans will start to have more
direct experience seeing a car with no one behind the wheel. Robo-taxi
services are starting to pop up around the globe. In China, Baidu
BIDU
+2.08%
and Pony.ai
PONY
+0.94%
are two companies offering robo-taxi services. Uber Technologies
UBER
+1.29%
and WeRide
WRD
-2.13%
have partnered to bring robo-taxi to the Middle East.
Rapid growth in artificial intelligence computing has helped speed
self-driving technology’s development. Tesla spends billions on AI
computers it uses to train vehicles to drive themselves.
Self-driving cars are the main reason Tesla stock has shot up about 91%
since the Nov. 5 election through Tuesday’s trading. That rally has
added about $730 billion to the company’s market value. Wall Street
expects President-elect Donald Trump to implement policies making it
easier to roll out driverless cars in his second term.
Tesla stock added 3.6% on Tuesday closing at $470.86, while the S&P 500
SPX
-0.39%
and Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA
-0.61%
fell about 0.4% and 0.6%, respectively. Alphabet shares traded as high
as $201.42, but closed at $195.42, down 0.6% on the day.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com