Uber has expanded its robotaxi network by adding another company’s autonomous vehicles. The Hyundai-owned company Motional now has its self-driving version of the Ioniq 5 available for rides through the Uber app in Las Vegas. For now, these vehicles will operate with a safety monitor inside.
Starting Friday, the service will cover five specific areas. Pickups and drop-offs will be available in the rideshare zones at the Resorts World and Encore hotel casinos on the Strip, as well as at the Westgate next to the Las Vegas Convention Center. The Motional vehicles will also serve the Town Square shopping center near the airport and curbside locations in Downtown Las Vegas.
Uber and Motional announced plans to expand the operating area in the future, though they did not provide specific details. As in other cities, users cannot specifically request a robotaxi. To increase the chance of being matched with one, customers must enable the autonomous vehicle pickup option within the Uber app. The companies expect to launch a fully driverless service in Las Vegas by the end of this year.
This launch marks a significant milestone for Motional, which faced serious challenges two years ago. The company was created as a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv and had fallen behind on its goal to launch a robotaxi service with Lyft. When Aptiv withdrew its funding, Hyundai had to decide whether to provide additional financial support or end the venture.
Hyundai chose to invest another one billion dollars into Motional. The autonomous vehicle startup underwent a restructuring that included laying off approximately forty percent of its workforce. Motional also revised its approach to building its autonomous technology, pivoting to a method more heavily based on neural networks, similar to other industry players.
Company leadership explained that they recognized the potential of advancements in AI. While they had a safe, driverless system, they saw a gap in achieving an affordable solution that could scale globally. This led to the difficult decision to pause commercial activities in the near term to accelerate long-term development.
Following demonstrations at a major tech conference in January, Motional has been operating a robotaxi service for its employees in Las Vegas in recent months. The company has previously shared plans to launch in multiple cities in partnership with both Uber and Lyft.
For Uber, Motional is one of many autonomous vehicle partners worldwide. Over the last two years, Uber has signed deals with more than twenty-five companies to integrate self-driving cars into its platform. Just this week, Uber announced plans to add self-driving Nissan Leaf vehicles in Tokyo, powered by the UK startup Wayve, and to bring Zoox robotaxis to its app in Las Vegas later this year.