TIER IV was selected for a Japanese state subsidy to take Autoware to Saudi buses
Japan's trade ministry picked the company for a large-scale demonstration grant to adapt its open-source driving stack to Saudi Arabian conditions for autonomous buses.
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry named TIER IV among nine successful applicants to a subsidy program for large-scale demonstration projects in non-ASEAN countries, publishing the result on September 4. The ministry said 16 applications were received and that an external review committee selected nine. TIER IV’s project is listed as a demonstration of autonomous buses in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia built on Japanese-origin open source.
TIER IV disclosed the selection to the Tokyo Stock Exchange the same day. The filing describes the project as adapting autonomous-driving technology proven in Japan to conditions specific to Saudi Arabia, based on Autoware, the open-source autonomous-driving software the company said it leads the development of. Eligible costs are covered in part: the company applied for 6,000 million yen of eligible expenditure at a subsidy rate of two-thirds, and marked both figures as provisional. The implementation period runs from the date of the grant decision to December 31, 2029.
The filing set out a staged plan. In 2027 the company expects to build the buses and begin training and reinforcing AI models. In 2028 it plans running demonstrations in closed areas in Saudi Arabia. From 2029 it plans to expand the operational design domain in stages and run demonstrations on local projects.
TIER IV said the eligible costs cover machinery and equipment, vehicle construction, data collection and AI model training, and that data gathered under new road and environmental conditions would be fed back into its own autonomous-driving AI models. It cited targets in the Saudi Vision 2030 strategy to automate 15 percent of public transport and 25 percent of logistics, along with demand associated with the Riyadh Expo.
The company said the formal grant decision and the amount awarded will be settled later, that the effect on its September 2026 financial year is immaterial, and that it expects a profit contribution from the following year. TIER IV’s own newsroom did not carry the announcement.