Honda and GM to bring autonomous ride-hail service to Japan

This could be your next ride the next time you visit Japan, and it will even drive itself.

The vehicle, named 'Origin', is the product of a collaboration between General Motors, Honda, and Cruise - a San Francisco-based autonomous vehicle company.

The Origin autonomous vehicle will be built in the U.S.A, and allows six passengers to sit face-to-face within its cabin

The three firms have announced a new memorandum of understanding to establish a new joint venture company that will launch a driverless ride-hail service in Japan starting in early 2026, and this Origin has been selected as the car to lead the service.

General Motors states that the benefits of autonomous vehicles - from safety to accessibility - are too profound to ignore, and that the Japan has the potential to be one of the largest driverless ride-hail markets in the world, owing to its large size, strong demand for taxis, as well as its ongoing driver shortages and an increasing need for accessible forms of transportation.

The autonomous vehicle not only comes equipped with autonomous driving capability, but also allows six passengers to sit face-to-face within its cabin. General Motors states that it already plans to manufacture approximately 500 Origins for the launch of this new joint venture. These will be built at the firm’s Factory ZERO Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly in Michigan, the launchpad for its new electrified and autonomous future.

General Motors and Cruise will also be working to launch autonomous vehicles in 12 additional markets in the U.S.A.