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June 06, 2025
 

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SELF DRIVING

Tesla's story about keeping used cars for "robotaxis" fits a long pattern of unfulfilled promises to deploy self-driving vehicles — most recently announced for June in Austin, Texas.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 16, 2025
Tesla took back leased cars for use as 'robotaxis,' but sold them instead
Despite repeated promises, the robotaxis never came and Tesla flipped many of the off-lease cars to new buyers.
Uber Technologies CEO Dara Khosrowshahi in New York on Wednesday
BUSINESS / Companies
May 15, 2025
Uber to launch self-driving mobility service in Japan
The U.S. ride-hailing service provider plans to introduce autonomous rides in Japan once partner firms are ready, an executive said.
Toyota and Alphabet’s Waymo, along with Toyota’s automotive-technology division Woven, will seek to develop a new autonomous-driving platform, according to a joint statement Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 30, 2025
Toyota to partner with Alphabet’s Waymo on autonomous technology
Toyota and other major Japanese firms have poured money into artificial intelligence and autonomous driving for years, but have struggled to keep pace.
Executives from U.K. self-driving startup Wayve and SoftBank attend an event in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 22, 2025
U.K. AI startup Wayve makes Japan debut after Nissan partnership
Earlier this month, Wayve said it was joining forces with Nissan Motor to help build the next generation of its ProPilot driver-assist system.
The logo of Xiaomi is seen on a tire wheel of the SU7, the company's first electric vehicle, on display at a showroom in Beijing on March 25.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 2, 2025
Three reported dead after Xiaomi car with driver assistance crashes
The incident is likely to spark scrutiny over the smart driving software deployed in many of today’s cars.
Lyft envisions a hybrid future where human drivers will complement autonomous vehicle fleets, especially during periods of peak demand.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 21, 2025
Lyft to offer driverless ride-hails ‘as soon as this summer’
The company sees its human drivers transitioning to other work such as fleet management as autonomous rides become more ubiquitous.
Signage at a Tesla store in Colma, California, on Monday. Tesla shares plunged to their worst day in more than four years, extending a slide in 2025 amid growing concerns on Wall Street about demand for the company's electric cars.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 11, 2025
Tesla’s stock defied gravity for years. Is Elon Musk’s EV party over?
The bulk of Tesla's worth rests on hopes for autonomous vehicles it hasn't yet delivered, despite Musk's continued promises.
Toyota unveils a part of Woven City in Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 24, 2025
Toyota unveils Woven City to test future mobility
The demonstration city includes roads dedicated to automated mobility on the ground and "logistics streets."
The Tesla gigafactory in Austin, Texas. Nothing in Texas law would stop Tesla from launching a robotaxi service.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 11, 2025
Tesla robotaxis by June? Musk turns to Texas for hands-off regulation
Nothing in Texas law would stop Tesla from launching a robotaxi service.
Priority lanes for test runs of self-driving trucks will be introduced on a roughly 100-kilometer section of the Shin-Tomei Expressway in Shizuoka Prefecture.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2025
Self-driving lanes to open on Japan's Shin-Tomei expressway
The move is part of a plan to create a road network that can handle so-called Level 4 autonomous driving amid labor shortages in the logistics industry.
Nvidia will end the year with about 4,000 people in China, up from just about 3,000 at the start of 2024, people familiar with its operations said.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 12, 2024
Nvidia steps up hiring in China to focus on AI-driven cars
The tech giant will end 2024 with about 4,000 employees in China, after starting the year with around 3,000.
A Xiaomi SU7 electric vehicle on display at one of the company's stores in Shanghai on April 2
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 18, 2024
China EV makers bet on self-driving models to fend off Tesla
Chinese electric car manufacturers say their advanced driving-assistance services — which can navigate highways or busy city streets — are coming very soon.
Toyota Motor and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone will spend ¥500 billion together on a project to develop the traffic accident prevention technology, and aim to commercialize it in 2028.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 29, 2024
Toyota and NTT to jointly develop driver assistance technology that uses AI
The ¥500 billion project will use artificial inteligence and optical communication infrastructure, aiming to commercialize by 2028.
Thursday night's electronic dance music-infused event had the signature trappings of Elon Musk's salesmanship, but some Tesla investors and experts said they were hoping for more concrete details.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 12, 2024
Tesla's robotaxi event was long on Musk promises. Investors wanted more details.
Concrete details on how the company plans to transform from an automaker into an autonomous driving and artificial intelligence titan were missing.
Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk rides in Tesla's robotaxi at an unveiling event in Los Angeles on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 11, 2024
Tesla CEO Musk unveils Cybercab and Robovan as focus shifts to automation
Musk said Cybercab production will start in 2026, with the autonomous taxis available to buy for less than $30,000.
East Japan Railway plans to run driverless shinkansen by the mid-2030s.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 11, 2024
JR East unveils plans for driverless shinkansen by mid-2030s
The company said it first aims to realize driverless operations for the Joetsu Shinkansen line between Niigata and Tokyo stations.
Taxis wait for fares outside the airport in Wuhan, China. Ride-hailing and taxi drivers are among the first workers globally to face the threat of job loss from artificial intelligence, experts say.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Aug 9, 2024
China's drivers worry as robotaxis pick up pace — and passengers
Automating jobs could benefit China in the long run given a shrinking population, economists said.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida rides on a self-driving bus in Taki, Mie Prefecture, on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2024
Japan to allow driverless cars on 25 public roads by March 2025
Level 4 driverless vehicles will also be seen traveling under specific conditions on some 10 routes after going through a shortened screening process .
Passenger aircraft operated by All Nippon Airways at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. ANA has developed an autonomous driving vehicle to tow cargo containers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 17, 2024
Tokyo airport trials driverless cargo vehicle
The trial, the first of its kind at a Japanese airport, is part of government-backed efforts to innovate the air transport industry.
If implemented, the autonomous freight lanes would reduce congestion by up to 35,000 vehicles per day.
BUSINESS
Jul 9, 2024
Transport ministry eyes autonomous lanes to ease freight crisis
The lanes would allow the transportation of small parcels between cities using unmanned carts, and help ease a driver shortage in the logistics sector.
Japan’s fertility rate hits record low despite government push
The total number of births dropped to about 686,000, marking the first time the figure has fallen below 700,000, according to a health ministry release on Wednesday.
Japan eyes tougher rules for foreign residents and tax hike for tourists
A tax-free shop in Kyoto in April 2024. Last week, members of a Liberal Democratic Party study group drafted a proposal seeking to scrap the country's tax-free shopping system altogether.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
Is Japan ready to say goodbye to tax-free shopping?
Arrows lead to the tax-free counter at a branch of discount retailer Don Quijote in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.
New Naoshima museum bets on Asia, not the West
Detail of Takashi Murakami, “Rakuchu-Rakugai-zu Byobu: Iwasa Matabei RIP” (2023-25)
Japan’s prison reform focuses on rehabilitation
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday. Suzuki said preparations for the changes that will focus more on rehabilitation are being actively made at each correctional facility.
Six months into 2025, J-pop is having a full-on identity crisis (and a great time)
The year so far is only proving that Mrs. Green Apple is the biggest band in Japan. Their success also seems to be hinting at a change in the musical landscape more broadly.
Nintendo’s Switch 2 console is finally here
The Switch 2 is Nintendo's first new gaming console in eight years.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
By Alex K.T. Martin

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