In April, Waymo said it'll begin driving its vehicles on Tokyo's streets, making this the company's first international location. It's also partnering with Uber to make its robotaxi available through the ride hailing app in select cities such as Atlanta and Austin,

While all that sounds very tentative, it boils down to this: Waymo has the self-driving tech, and Toyota has the cars. Sometime down the line, the two companies might start selling Toyota-built cars with Waymo's autonomous driving technology to end users.

Waymo and Toyota partner to explore bringing self-driving tech to personal vehicles, signaling a shift toward consumer-facing autonomy.