Waymo’s Japan Road Trip Should Drift Outside Tokyo

Anyone who has driven through the narrow, zig-zagging streets of Shibuya when they’re packed with pedestrians and double-loaded mamachari would find central Tokyo a curious choice for the first international “road trip” of Alphabet Inc.’s self-driving car unit, Waymo. Human-operated taxis regularly pass each other by a hairline margin on my street, a two-way but essentially one-lane road in the world’s most-populous metropolitan area.

Beyond the technical difficulties any autonomous vehicle venture would face here in Tokyo, I also have a bias. The beauty of my city is how pedestrian-friendly its streets are — and how immensely walkable, bikeable and navigable it is via a robust and reliable public transit system. Adding more cars to the roads, self-driving or not, threatens this unique urban charm. A better transit solution would be investing in expanding its existing public transport infrastructure.