TIER IV Pilot.Auto, Web.Auto and Edge.Auto

TIER IV, Inc. is a Tokyo-based autonomous driving company founded in December 2015 by Shinpei Kato, who also co-founded the Autoware Foundation. It leads development of Autoware, the open-source autonomous driving software, and has 404 employees, a North American subsidiary and mapping and deep learning subsidiaries. Its goal is to give organisations open access to autonomous driving technology.

Pilot.Auto is its Autoware-based driving software with reference designs for cargo transport, trucks, off-road vehicles, shuttle buses, robotaxis and personal cars. Web.Auto is a cloud service with simulation, CI/CD and data tools for developers plus fleet management and remote operation for transport operators. Edge.Auto is a reference platform of validated sensors, computers and software. Customers include vehicle developers, transport operators and factories.

• Pilot.Auto: Autoware-based driving software with reference designs per vehicle type.
• Web.Auto for developers: simulation, CI/CD pipeline and data management in the cloud.
• Web.Auto for operators: fleet management and remote operation tools.
• Edge.Auto: reference platform combining sensors, computers and software tools.
• Use cases: factory logistics, shuttle buses, robotaxis and off-road machines.
• Open-source base: Autoware maintained with the Autoware Foundation.

Vietnamese universities and research institutes can build autonomous vehicle programmes on Autoware with TIER IV reference platforms. Factories and industrial parks can deploy autonomous cargo transport between buildings. Urban area developers can pilot autonomous shuttle buses on internal routes.

Reference designs and validated hardware reduce the time and cost of building an autonomous vehicle compared with starting from scratch. Building on open-source Autoware avoids lock-in and lets partners extend the software. Transport operators get fleet management and remote operation tools that do not require specialist expertise, and the stack has reached Level 4 approvals in Japan.

Japan is approving Level 4 services to address driver shortages in regional transport, and the open-source Autoware ecosystem is being adopted by universities and companies in Asia and Europe. Southeast Asian countries exploring autonomous shuttles and factory logistics can draw on open, reference-based stacks instead of closed proprietary systems.

Founded in December 2015 in Tokyo, with capital of JPY 8.8 billion and Series A, Series B and extension rounds totalling over JPY 38 billion. Listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market in July 2026. Obtained Level 4 certification in Shiojiri, Nagano and Komatsu, Ishikawa. Partners include NVIDIA, the Technical University of Munich and Taisei Corporation.