A Silicon Valley autonomous vehicle startup, Nuro, has begun testing its self driving technology on public roads in Tokyo, marking the company’s first expansion outside the United States. The pilot programme uses modified Toyota Prius cars fitted with Nuro’s autonomous driving software, while human safety operators remain behind the wheel as a precaution during the testing phase.
The company said the trial, which began last month, is designed to evaluate how its technology performs under Japan’s unique road conditions and traffic culture. Unlike in the United States, vehicles in Japan drive on the left side of the road, and Tokyo’s streets are known for dense traffic, different road signs and distinctive lane markings. Nuro said these factors present new challenges as the system adapts to unfamiliar driving environments.
Founded in 2016 by former engineers from the early self driving project at Google, Dave Ferguson and Jiajun Zhu, the startup initially focused on operating small autonomous delivery robots. The company attracted major investors including SoftBank, which invested $940 million through its Vision Fund in 2019, helping the startup gain global attention in the fast evolving autonomous vehicle industry.
After facing rising development costs and industry consolidation, Nuro shifted its strategy in 2024 by abandoning its delivery robot model and instead licensing its autonomous driving technology to automakers and mobility companies. The firm’s software is built on an artificial intelligence system that allows vehicles to learn and adapt as they operate, an approach the company describes as “zero shot autonomous driving.”
Nuro said the Tokyo tests demonstrate the potential of this AI driven system to function in new environments without extensive prior training on local driving data. The company also noted that safety remains a priority, with vehicles currently operating in “shadow mode” where the software predicts driving actions while human operators remain in control. Backed by investors including Nvidia and Uber, Nuro said the Tokyo programme could pave the way for wider international deployment of its autonomous driving technology in the future