Nuro tests autonomous vehicle tech on Tokyo streets in first international deployment

Nuro Brings Autonomous Vehicle Testing to Tokyo Streets

Nuro, the US self-driving startup backed by Nvidia, Uber, and Softbank, has launched testing of its autonomous vehicle technology on public roads in Tokyo, marking the company's first international deployment 1

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. Toyota Prius vehicles equipped with Nuro's self-driving software and human safety operators began testing in Tokyo last month, introducing the Silicon Valley company to Japan's driving conditions 1

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. The company opened offices in Tokyo last August and has deployed a handful of test cars for data collection 2

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. Andrew Chapin, Nuro's chief operating officer, confirmed that achieving Level 4 autonomy—where vehicles can drive themselves under limited conditions—remains the company's ultimate goal 2

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Zero-Shot Autonomous Driving Tackles Japan's Unique Challenges

What sets this testing in Tokyo apart is Nuro's use of zero-shot autonomous driving, an approach that allows its AI foundation model to navigate unfamiliar environments without prior training on location-specific data 3

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. The company did not train its system on Japanese driving data before deployment, a stark contrast to most autonomous driving systems that require extensive local data collection and location-specific tuning over several months 3

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. Japan presents steep technical challenges with left-side driving, right-hand-drive vehicles, dense traffic, and road signs and lane markings that differ significantly from U.S. norms 3

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. Nuro's autonomy stack learns the underlying structure of safe driving rather than memorizing city-specific rules, allowing it to adapt to unfamiliar environments in real time 4

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Safety Testing and Global Expansion Strategy

Before autonomous vehicles on public roads went live in Tokyo, Nuro conducted rigorous safety protocols including closed-course testing in Las Vegas, large-scale simulation, and shadow mode trials where the AI made decisions without directly controlling the vehicle 4

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. The company manually drives vehicles while its software operates in shadow mode, producing commands that aren't sent to vehicle controls, allowing Nuro to verify system readiness 1

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. To establish local operations, Nuro built vehicles, secured facilities, and hired local teams in Japan 4

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. The company plans to incorporate Japan-specific driving data into its universal model over time, with partner deployments expected in the coming months 4

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Business Model Pivot and Competitive Landscape

Founded in 2016 by early Google self-driving project engineers Dave Ferguson and Jiajun Zhu, Nuro initially focused on low-speed delivery bots before pivoting in 2024 to license its self-driving technology to automakers and mobility providers like ride-hail and delivery companies 1

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. The shift came after development costs and industry consolidation forced staff cuts and business model reassessment 1

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. Last year, Nuro raised $203 million in two tranches of a Series E round that included Baillie Gifford, Icehouse Ventures, Kindred Ventures, Nvidia, and Pledge Ventures 1

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. Uber also participated, having committed to a multi-hundred-million dollar investment as part of a broader deal with electric car maker Lucid 1

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Competing in a Crowded Market

Nuro now competes with Waymo, which has been testing on public roads in Japan since April 2025 in partnership with Toyota, and Amazon's Zoox in the nascent market for commercialized fully-autonomous vehicles 2

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. Chapin indicated that Nuro's universal autonomy platform, which can be extended to different applications and form factors, differentiates it from Waymo's approach 2

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. Uber tapped Nuro and Lucid last year to offer driverless rides using electric vehicles in the San Francisco Bay area, with plans to eventually deploy a fleet of 100,000 autonomous vehicles using Nvidia's chip technology—including 20,000 robotaxis powered by Lucid and Nuro—beginning rollout in 2027 2

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. Chapin noted that Japanese automakers represent interesting potential customers, though he declined to name specific partners or confirm ongoing talks 2

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. Toyota, which backs Nuro, has an agreement with Japanese telecom giant NTT to jointly invest ¥500 billion ($3.2 billion) in AI and autonomous driving development 2

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. The testing in Tokyo serves as a pressure test for Nuro's AI technology in an urban environment with international complexity, potentially signaling that geography-agnostic self-driving technology is within reach 3

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