Hyundai Motor Group resumes robotaxi service two years after $1 billion investment
Motional, the autonomous driving company created by Hyundai Motor Group, has partnered with ride‑hailing platform Uber to launch a robotaxi service in Las Vegas.
On March 13 (local time), the companies said they will make Ioniq 5–based robotaxis — developed jointly with Hyundai — available to Uber riders in Las Vegas.
According to Yonhap News Agency, riders who request a car through the Uber app may be matched with a Motional robotaxi at no additional cost.
Initial operations will be confined to the Las Vegas Boulevard corridor, with plans to expand the service area over time.
The Motional Ioniq 5 robotaxi is built specifically for ride‑hailing and meets SAE Level 4 autonomous driving standards.
That means, within a defined operating area, the vehicle can perform all driving tasks without human intervention and is designed to handle emergencies on its own.
The rollout will begin with a safety driver on board and is scheduled to transition to fully driverless service by the end of the year.
Motional originally launched a robotaxi service in Las Vegas in 2018 with Lyft, but commercial operations stopped after Aptiv — Motional’s co‑founder with Hyundai Motor Group — halted investment.
The company cut about 40% of its workforce at the time. Later, Hyundai Motor Group injected an additional $1 billion and led a redesign of the autonomous systems, enabling Motional to restart robotaxi operations after a two‑year hiatus.
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