By River Davis

General Motors, its self-driving unit, Cruise, and Honda plan to begin offering a driverless ride service in Japan in early 2026, the companies said in a joint briefing Thursday.

With the service, customers will be able to use an app on their smartphone to call a self-driving vehicle to pick them up and drop them off at a designated destination. It will start with a few dozen self-driving vehicles operating in central Tokyo and later expand to a fleet of 500.

The companies plan to establish a joint venture to provide the autonomous ride service in the first half of 2024 and aim to eventually expand beyond Tokyo.

"If we can satisfy customers in Tokyo we will be able to spread to other cities," Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe said. Cruise currently offers rides in several U.S. cities including San Francisco and Austin.

While other car companies have largely pulled back on their autonomous-car ambitions, GM CEO Mary Barra said the companies remain committed to bringing the technology and "its significant safety benefits" to the world.

Federal regulators in the U.S. said in a Tuesday filing that they had opened up an investigation of Cruise after reports of its autonomous vehicles exhibiting risky behavior around pedestrians.

Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt said Thursday that safety is Cruise's top priority. The company is in regular communication with regulators with the aim of helping familiarize them with the emerging technology, he said.

Write to River Davis at river.davis@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 18, 2023 23:41 ET (03:41 GMT)

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