From 14 September the driverless cars carry the public along the Strip, in an area of nearly 24 miles. The same day Waymo, Nihon Kotsu and GO announced a plan for a commercial service in Tokyo next year, if regulators grant approval.
- Las Vegas is the new city with a public service, but access opens in waves, not for everyone at once.
- The cars there are mostly Ojai with the sixth-generation Waymo Driver, as in Denver and San Diego.
- Tokyo is a plan for 2027 with a condition: approval from national and local authorities, and around 100 cars in the end.
A city built on gambling gets cars that do not gamble. Waymo made the joke itself in the announcement, and it is right - a better stage for a launch is hard to find.
Under the joke there are two pieces of news from one day, and they do not weigh the same. One is already happening. The other is a promise with a condition.
Why Tokyo is the harder half
Vegas is wide, orderly and built for cars. In Tokyo, Waymo cars have been driving themselves for a year along narrow neighbourhood streets and through dense crowds, but supervised by trained Nihon Kotsu crew members.
The choice of partners says a lot. Nihon Kotsu has driven Tokyo for nearly a hundred years, and GO is the taxi app through which a Waymo car will also be bookable. Waymo does not go in alone; it goes in through the people and the screens Japanese riders already trust. That is a local stage, cleverly directed.
And that is how it should be read: from Tokyo there is an agreed goal, not a service. Around a hundred cars in a city like that is a trial, not a transport network. The real news will be the day the Japanese authorities grant the approval, and what it says.
In Vegas these days the app already takes riders, but gradually, not for everyone at once. In Tokyo it is a wait for 2027 and a wait for a signature.