Until recently, the name T2 drew little attention outside niche circles in Japan.
Yet over the past few months, the firm has quietly triggered a series of announcements that suggest it may become a key player in Japan’s push toward driverless highway logistics. For a company founded in 2022, its rapid positioning is striking.
We first flagged T2 in September 2025 when it partnered with Toray Industries to trial autonomous trucks on a 440-km petrochemical route.
That trial, covering expressways from Kanagawa to Osaka, was already ambitious – but it would be just one leg of a broader story unfolding this autumn and beyond.
Recent moves now paint a more ambitious picture:
- In early October, T2 was chosen by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) for its “Demonstration Project for the Social Implementation of Highway Transportation by Autonomous Trucks”.
- Around the same time, T2 entered a strategic alliance with Tokyu Land Corporation to co-develop logistics facilities capable of supporting Level 4 autonomous trucks – including facility hubs, switching centers, and maintenance infrastructure.
Together, these developments suggest T2 no longer is a peripheral actor; it’s positioning to be one of Japan’s frontline firms in commercialization of autonomous highway freight.
The Toray trial: First long-haul test
The Toray–T2 collaboration marked a significant public test of T2’s capabilities. Beginning September 16, 2025, the trial runs autonomous trucks over a 440-kilometer expressway route from Ayase Smart Interchange (Kanagawa Prefecture) to Ibaraki-Sendaiji Interchange (Osaka region).
The trucks carry TOYOLAC acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (a petrochemical product) from Toray’s Chiba plant to a logistics center in Ibaraki. Four runs are scheduled through April 2026.
While the trial uses Level 2 autonomous operation (i.e. the system handles steering, acceleration, deceleration under supervision) rather than full driverless operation, it is a meaningful stepping stone toward Level 4.
A notable twist: the trial also experiments with carbon-neutral fuels. T2 has teamed with petroleum companies to supply B5 diesel (5 percent biodiesel) and renewable diesel derived from waste cooking oil and fats – the latter being nearly carbon-neutral.
This suggests T2 is not purely focused on autonomy, but also energy strategy, perhaps anticipating regulatory or market demands for lower emissions logistics.
Tokyo’s metropolitan government selected this trial as part of its push for green industries, and T2 plans to refine not only driving but also refueling logistics in parallel.
For T2, the value lies in data, route validation, and real-world testing under varying conditions – vital before committing to full Level 4 deployment.
MLIT’s demonstration program: Government backing
On October 10, 2025, T2 announced it had been selected for MLIT’s “Demonstration Project for the Social Implementation of Highway Transportation by Autonomous Trucks”.
The program is designed to accelerate adoption of autonomous highway freight by subsidizing key costs. Eligible firms are supported in: (a) installation of autonomous vehicle systems; (b) building “switching centers” – the infrastructure where drivers transfer in/out of trucks when changing from manual to autonomous modes; and (c) developing and operating the required logistics systems.
T2 plans to use these subsidies to roll out further demonstration routes, establish switching centers in target regions, and push toward its goal of a Level 4 highway transport service by 2027.
The selection gives T2 not only financial support, but also legitimacy and access to regulatory pathways – allowing pilot projects to operate under government oversight.
This is a critical step: deployment of autonomous trucks does not rely solely on vehicle technology, but ecosystem readiness, policy acceptance, and infrastructure support.
The Tokyu Land partnership: building the skeleton
Shortly thereafter, T2 struck a strategic alliance with Tokyu Land Corporation, a major real estate and development firm. Together, they intend to co-design logistics hubs, vehicle maintenance centers, and switching centers optimized for autonomous trucks, particularly Level 4 trunk routes.
The partnership includes significant capital commitment: Tokyu Land Holdings invested in T2 via its corporate venture capital fund, TSVF2.
Key to the plan is locating logistics facilities adjacent to expressway interchanges (“smart interchanges”) to reduce deadhead distance and provide seamless highway access. Planned hub locations include Yokohama (Kanagawa Prefecture), Joyo (Kyoto Prefecture), Saga (Kyushu), Ibaraki, and other industrial corridors.
This network of logistics nodes will serve as departure and arrival points for autonomous trunk routes — connecting logistics centers across Kanto, Kansai, and eventually Kyushu by 2029.
The duo will also explore combining autonomous truck operations with Tokyu Land’s renewable energy assets, perhaps to integrate charging or hydrogen refueling energy infrastructure into logistics facilities.
The strategy is clear: T2 wants to avoid being just a vehicle tech provider. It envisions owning or tightly partnering in the full stack: vehicle autonomy + logistics real estate + energy support.
Other partnerships and early commercial moves
Beyond Toray, T2 has already started commercial trunk operations at Level 2 autonomy with corporate logistics firms. In July 2025, Mitsui-Soko Logistics announced it began Japan’s first commercial trunk-line transport operations using T2’s Level 2 autonomous trucks between Kanto and Kansai.
In another alliance, T2 also struck a deal with TOHO Holdings to examine autonomous trucking for pharmaceutical distribution – including demonstrations on expressway segments between Kanto and Kansai.
And earlier in 2025, T2 secured additional investment from Mitsubishi Estate, suggesting real estate and infrastructure partners are betting on its long-term potential.
So while T2 remains relatively low-profile, it is already building a web of partnerships – spanning manufacturing, logistics, real estate, and energy.
The fuel conundrum: Lithium-ion vs hydrogen fuel cells
One of the recurring debates in future heavy vehicle design is whether to go battery electric or hydrogen fuel cell. Japan’s automotive industry, most notably Toyota, once bet heavily on hydrogen FCEVs, citing longer range and fast refuelling. But the rollout of hydrogen fueling infrastructure has lagged, and battery electrification has advanced rapidly.
In the trucking domain, hydrogen’s appeal remains its energy density and the ability to refuel quickly, making it better suited to long-haul routes. But hydrogen production, storage, and distribution remain costly and complex.
Interestingly, T2’s Toray trial opts for renewable diesel / B5 blends rather than hydrogen or battery. That suggests T2 is pragmatically fitting into existing infrastructure while autonomy is matured. It may view energy transition as a later layer, rather than tying itself prematurely to a fuel technology that may not scale fast enough.
In Japan, hydrogen trucks are being piloted (for example, by Toyota / Hino), and DHL Japan recently started trials of hydrogen-powered trucks.
But hydrogen uptake in trucks is still nascent, limited by infrastructure. Meanwhile, battery trucks also struggle with charging time, weight penalties, and range limits in heavy-duty duty cycles.
For now, many autonomous trucking developers in Japan may follow a hybrid or transitional approach: autonomy first, energy later.
Japan’s regulatory landscape
For any autonomous highway deployment to succeed, regulation is crucial. Japan amended its Road Traffic Act and Road Transport Vehicle Act in 2020-2023 to permit higher levels of autonomous operation under defined conditions.
On April 1, 2023, Japan legally allowed Level 4 vehicles (in limited domains) and has set a goal of realizing Level 4 services in at least 40 locales by fiscal 2025.
Still, deploying driverless trucking means integrating multiple systems (vehicle, connectivity, switching centers, logistics). That makes government projects like MLIT’s demonstration program and partnerships with real estate developers especially consequential – they help de-risk adoption and map legal/operational boundaries.
Why T2 matters
Why should the robotics and automation community care about T2? Here are a few reasons:
- Full-stack ambition: T2 aims not just to build trucks, but also logistics nodes, switching infrastructure, and energy systems. That vertical breadth is rare.
- Strategic timing: Its selection by MLIT, and alignment with Tokyu Land’s development efforts, suggest T2 may benefit from coordinated policy, land use, and capital support.
- Incremental rigor: The Toray trial and commercial Level 2 operations offer real-world data; T2 is not betting everything on lab demos.
- Institutional backing: Partnerships with Mitsui-Soko, Mitsubishi Estate, TOHO, and real estate firms give T2 broader ecosystem reach.
- Of course, challenges remain: scaling Level 4 autonomy, coordinating regional switching hubs, resolving energy/fuel infrastructure, and managing cost economics in freight logistics.
Also, T2 is not alone in Japan’s autonomous trucking race. Other Japanese companies and research groups are exploring driverless logistics, though few have unveiled full commercialization strategies yet.
Outside of Japan, globally, T2 could be said to have “peer firms” like Plus.ai, TuSimple, Gatik, and Inceptio are also pushing in autonomous trucking.
Outlook and what to watch
Over the next 18 months, several signals will matter:
- Performance data from the Toray trial – whether it can reliably run 440 km with autonomy + fuel logistics.
- Deployment of switching centers and logistics hubs via Tokyu Land and analogous efforts – those are critical infrastructure bottlenecks.
- MLIT demonstration project results – will T2 receive further project expansions, loosened regulations, or additional subsidies?
- Fuel strategy evolution – whether T2 eventually pilots hydrogen or battery refueling infrastructure, or sticks longer with renewable diesel approaches.
- Expansion of service zones – T2 aims to reach Kansai and Kyushu by 2029; the pace and geography of growth will reveal its economic model.
In the near term, T2 is still relatively unknown outside Japan’s logistics and autonomy circles. But the trifecta of a high-profile trial (Toray), government backing, and real estate/logistics partnerships gives the company a chance to emerge from the shadows.
If T2 succeeds, or even edges forward meaningfully, it could become a case study in how to commercialize autonomous trucking in Japan’s unique regulatory, geographic, and energy ecosystem.
For robotics and automation watchers, it’s ready to move from “rising startup” into a company to track seriously.
