Waymo and Toyota: What Else Ya Got?

Waymo and Toyota Tuesday dropped content-free news of “a preliminary agreement” to collaborate on “exploring” the development and deployment of autonomous driving technologies.

The joint press release contained no specifics on “What, Where, When, Why, and How” — a set of key questions every journalist is trained to ask when deciphering the gravity of an announcement.

All we know at this point is a couple of famous names: Waymo and Toyota.

Perhaps they thought dropping big names, like a fat guy doing a cannonball in the swimming pool, would turn into a drenching media splash, especially when they added “autonomous driving” to the pitch. Think of it as the bathing beauty posing on the diving board.

The announcement offers no clue about what these alleged teammates might or might not do in the future. Vaguely, they say they’re “exploring a collaboration,” which, from the reporter’s angle, is more ripple than splash.

Nonetheless, the joint press release succeeds in creating an impression that it’s a big win for both companies. For Waymo — slogging through city-by-city robotaxi deployments in the United States — it establishes a foothold in Japan. Meanwhile, Toyota — not known as a trailblazer in autonomous vehicles — can associate itself with Waymo’s AV glamour.

Here are a few questions that went begging in the press release:

• Does this collaboration mean the companies will develop a new “autonomous vehicle platform”?

• If so, how will the new platform be different from Waymo’s software and E/E architecture already installed its robotaxis?

• What exactly has “Woven by Toyota” been developing thus far? Does it need Waymo’s help? Woven by Toyota is Toyota’s subsidiary developing the software for Toyota’s vehicle operating system and automated driving.

• In addition, are we talking about Toyota vehicles —with “the Waymo Driver Inside” — scooting around Japan soon?

Compare this with Waymo’s announcement last fall of a multi-year strategic partnership with Hyundai Motor Company, in which Waymo was specific about plans to integrate the Waymo Driver into Hyundai’s all-electric SUV.

• The Waymo-Toyota announcement also mentions the potential of using personally owned vehicles (POVs) for robotaxis. This is notable because this appears to be Waymo’s direct response to Tesla's plan for personally owned robotaxis.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai recently indicated that Waymo is exploring the possibility of selling self-driving vehicles to individuals. Waymo slipped it into the Toyota announcement, mentioning that the partnership might explore the development of AVs for both consumer and commercial applications, potentially including a robotaxi service.

Or, maybe they won’t.

In a collaboration devoid of definite agreed-upon details, “maybe” is the operative message. And maybes are not news.

Between the lines, however, Waymo appears laying the groundwork to expand into the Japanese market. In April, Waymo started collecting data in Tokyo doing test rides operated by human drivers and managed by a local taxi fleet operator, Nihon Kotsu, to map key areas of the Japanese capital and get a better understanding of local infrastructure and driving patterns.

Waymo also attempts to couch the partnership with Toyota as a safety initiative, which it is not. In the press release, Waymo refers to Toyota’s long advanced research and development in support of its “zero-traffic-accident vision.”

The unspoken, perhaps unspeakable, issue is whether Japan is willing to invite commercial robotaxi operations by Waymo — with or without Toyota— into the pool.

Japan is a notoriously cautious nation, where principles like “move fast and break things” have been out of fashion since Pearl Harbor.

Or, as the Japanese proverb goes, “Tap a stone bridge before crossing it.”

Translation: “Look hard before you leap.”