Uber Japan announced on August 13, 2026 that it has signed an operational partnership agreement with Hinomaru Kotsu Co., Ltd. to serve as the licensed fleet operator for a robotaxi pilot in Tokyo scheduled to launch in late 202611,7,9.
Under the agreement, Hinomaru Kotsu will manage day-to-day fleet operations including depot management, vehicle cleaning, maintenance, inspections, charging, and vehicle uptime. Uber will make rides available through its global ride-hailing app and provide its matching platform and operational support tools.
The pilot will deploy Nissan LEAF vehicles equipped with Wayve's AI Driver technology5. In the initial phase, experienced Hinomaru Kotsu drivers will remain behind the wheel as safety operators before any transition to fully driverless services, which would be subject to regulatory approval.
The deal builds on a memorandum of understanding signed on March 12, 2026 by Uber, Wayve, and Nissan Motor to develop a robotaxi service in Japan. Japanese law requires passenger transport services to be operated by authorized taxi companies, making a licensed local partner a regulatory necessity for the pilot4.
Uber global head of autonomous mobility and delivery Sarfraz Maredia said Japan's capital "features one of the most complex driving environments in the world" and cited Hinomaru Kotsu's operational experience and safety standards, alongside Nissan's automotive engineering and Wayve's AI technology, as vital to the effort. Hinomaru Kotsu president and representative director Kazutaka Tomita said the company "is committed to building a sustainable mobility service that everyone can rely on with confidence".
The Tokyo pilot adds to Uber's expanding autonomous vehicle portfolio. Uber has launched robotaxi dispatch services in Phoenix, Arizona and Los Angeles, California through its partnership with Waymo in the United States. Since December 2024, Uber and WeRide have introduced robotaxi services across several Middle Eastern markets, including fully driverless commercial operations in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and public services in Riyadh. Uber and WeRide also announced plans in June to introduce commercial robotaxi services in the Greater Zurich Region, pending regulatory approvals. Separately, in June, Stellantis, Wayve, and Uber signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to explore the development and deployment of Level 4 robotaxi services at scale. Uber also entered into a strategic partnership with Amazon's Zoox to deploy Zoox's purpose-built robotaxis on Uber's platform.
ANALYSIS The Hinomaru Kotsu partnership illustrates Uber's platform-operator model for autonomous vehicles: rather than building or directly operating self-driving fleets, Uber is layering its ride-matching network on top of local licensed operators and third-party AV technology providers. In Tokyo, the three-way structure — Uber for demand aggregation, Wayve for the driving stack, Hinomaru Kotsu for licensed fleet operations — mirrors the regulatory and operational segmentation Uber has adopted across its other robotaxi markets.
Uber Technologies shares were trading 0.45% higher at $75.70 during premarket trading on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data12.