Morgan Stanley Robotaxi Report: Implications for the Japanese Auto Parts Industry

Research evidence excerpt

Morgan Stanley Robotaxi Report: Implications for the Japanese Auto Parts Industry

Update

July 7, 2026 05:20 AM GMT

Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co., Ltd.+MAuto Parts | Japan Shinji Kakiuchi

Equity Analyst

Morgan Stanley Robotaxi Shinji.Kakiuchi@morganstanleymufg.comHayato Takashima +81 3 6836-5416

Hayato.Takashima@morganstanleymufg.com +81 3 6836-5414

Report: Implications for the

Japanese Auto Parts Industry

Key Takeaways Auto Parts

Japan

Our global team published a report on robotaxi industry; implications for Industry View In-Line

Japanese auto parts: we think neutral near term, slightly negative longer term.

Short term, Level 4 autonomous driving has limited presence & impact. In Japan,

we first expect wider use in self-driving buses etc, where the routes are fixed.

Longer term, shift in added-value to system development, autonomous driving AI,

travel data, and fleet could hurt the added-value of traditional parts makers.

It is assumed that at Level 4 of autonomous driving, the emphasis shifts from

rule-based (maneuver aligned with the architect's assumptions) to E2E (AI makes

decisions depending on the circumstance).

Many business opportunities or Denso (LiDAR, automotive SoCs, integrated

ECUs) + joint research with autonomous driving system developer Turing.

On July 3, our global Autos & Shared Mobility team published a report entitled

“Robotaxi Diffusion – Robots, Taxis and the Trillion-Dollar Traffic Portal”. It analyzes

the global robotaxi market as being in transition from technology demonstration to

commercial scale. The combination of advances in AI, lower hardware costs, and

greater regulatory clarity has led to several operators already providing fully

driverless services 24/7. Our team forecasts a market opportunity worth c.$1trn by