March 11 (Reuters) – U.S.-based startup Nuro said on Wednesday its self-driving vehicles are now operating on public roads in Tokyo with safety operators present, marking the company’s first international autonomous deployment.
The Nvidia- and Uber- backed company said it did not train its system on Japanese driving data, a capability it calls “zero-shot” autonomy and a potential indication that geography-agnostic self-driving technology is within reach.
Most autonomous driving systems require extensive local data collection and location-specific tuning before operating safely in a new market, a process that can take several months.
Also, Japan presents a steep technical challenge, as its left-side driving and right-hand-drive vehicles, along with Tokyo’s dense streets, complex traffic interactions, road signs, lane markings and signals, differ significantly from U.S. norms.
Nuro said its 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.
Before going live on Tokyo public roads, the system underwent closed-course testing in Las Vegas, large-scale simulation and “shadow mode” trials, where the AI made decisions without directly controlling the vehicle.
To establish local operations, Nuro built vehicles, secured facilities and hired local teams in Japan.
The company added it plans to incorporate Japan-specific driving data into its universal model over time, with partner deployments expected in the coming months.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
