Cruise, General Motors Company (GM) and Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda) have announced plans to establish a joint venture to introduce a driverless ride-hailing service in Japan in early 2026.
The three companies have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to deliver the service, with the new company due to be established in the first half of 2024.
Kyle Vogt, Founder and CEO of Cruise, said:Honda has been a key partner with Cruise for several years and we’re excited to offer safer and more accessible transportation to customers in Tokyo. All of our work scaling in dense urban US markets will position us well to address the huge opportunity for autonomous vehicles in Japan.
To deliver this service, a jointly-developed Cruise Origin vehicle will be purpose-built for driverless ride-hailing across the country. This model will be a completely autonomous self-driving vehicle touting a large cabin interior that will allow up to 6 people to ride at any one time.
Mary Barra, Chair and CEO of GM, said:GM has always been invested in defining the future of transportation and that’s more true today than ever. The benefits of AVs – from safety to accessibility – are too profound to ignore and through this important partnership with Cruise and Honda, we’re bringing forward innovation that leverages our expertise in cutting-edge software and hardware to help more people around the world get where they need to go.
With an initial delivery of several dozen units, the fleet, which is expected to expand to 500 vehicles, will first be introduced within central Tokyo. Expansion to areas outside of the centre will be introduced in subsequent years.
Toshihiro Mibe, Global CEO of Honda, said:Honda is striving to create the ‘joy and freedom of mobility.’ Through our driverless ride-hail service, we will enable customers in Japan to experience a new value of mobility, improve the quality of their mobility experiences and offer the joy of mobility. This will be a major step toward the realisation of an advanced mobility society.
Providing this service in central Tokyo where the traffic environment is complex will be a great challenge, however, by working jointly with Cruise and GM, Honda will exert further efforts to make it a reality.
The Cruise Origin is scheduled to have its first public appearance at the Honda booth at the JAPAN MOBILITY SHOW 2023 at Tokyo Big Site, which takes place from 28 October – 5 November 2023.
