Hyundai and Motional Unveil the IONIQ 5 Electric Robotaxi

While Hyundai announced its 2022 IONIQ 5 electric vehicle (EV) earlier this year, the company is already looking forward in hopes to create a next-generation robotaxi using the EV.

Hyundai and Motional unveiled plans for the next-generation robotaxi on Tuesday, based on the Hyundai IONIQ 5, according to a press release. The EV also represents Motional’s first commercial vehicle, and the IONIQ robotaxi will begin transporting passengers in 2023 through a separate partnership with Lyft.

According to the release, the IONIQ 5 robotaxi is considered an SAE level 4 autonomous vehicle, meaning that it can operate completely without a driver.

Motional President and CEO Karl Iagnemma said, “This robotaxi represents Motional’s vision of a driverless future becoming a reality.”

Iagnemma continued, “Through our strategic partnership with Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv, we have unparalleled automotive and software expertise across our entire vehicle development process. This deep collaboration enables us to manufacture a robotaxi that’s both highly safe and reliable, and is cost-optimized for global production. We’re focused on mass commercialization, and the IONIQ 5 robotaxi is built for that purpose.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk also said earlier this year that the company would offer its own robotaxi. In addition, Alphabet (Google) subsidiary company Waymo launched a “trusted tester” program for autonomous drives earlier this month.