Motional is an American startup specializing in autonomous vehicle solutions and the company is dedicated to a very special taxi service. Ionic 5 worked closely with Hyundai to prepare a fleet of vehicles.
Uber and Motional met in October and announced a 10-year partnership, and Uber has high hopes for rapidly growing autonomous taxi services, thanks to technology provided by Motionless.
The two companies as their chosen tool Hyundai Ionic 5The vehicle is equipped with LiDAR sensors as well as an additional 30 sensors and high resolution camera array. Other than that, it’s a pretty standard Ioniq 5 with a range of 515 miles (828 km) and fast 220 kW charging in an urban environment – exactly what any taxi fleet operator needs.
The new autonomous service offers Level 4 self-driving, and the cars are part of the UberX and Uber Comfort Electric fleet. Customers will have the option to accept autonomous driving or request a different ride. Once the vehicle arrives at the pickup point, the customer can unlock the door via the Uber App.
There’s a backup option in case Robotaxi gets into any trouble. A remote operator can take over the controls at any time and steer the vehicle to a safe location. For now, the service is available in a selected area of Las Vegas, but Uber plans to expand the service as soon as possible, and after successful trials, both companies are looking to expand the robot axis to Los Angeles.
Uber is back in the autonomous car business. It’s interesting to see this development after the company sold its self-driving division, Advanced Technologies Group, in 2020. Aurora Innovation, which acquired the AT Group from Uber, has expanded its pilot program for heavy-duty autonomous delivery trucks operating between Fort Worth and El Paso.