Hyundai Ioniq 5-based robotaxi unveiled

Hyundai has unveiled a robotaxi based on its electrified Ioniq 5 which is set for service in the United States.

Developed in partnership with Motional, a driverless tech firm based in the US, the taxi will offer Level 4 autonomous driving capabilities – allowing the vehicle to operate without a human being behind the steering wheel in certain conditions.

Set to be deployed in and around the Los Angeles area, the robotaxi joins a number of additional autonomous vehicles testing in California and other western US states – including Google’s Chrysler Pacifica-based Waymo self-driving taxi in Phoenix, Arizona, and GM’s Cruise autonomous vehicle service.

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Thirty sensors, combining radar, lidar and camera technology as well as advanced machine learning, will allow the vehicle to construct a 360-degree field of vision, with high-definition images and the ability to detect long-distance objects.

“For the Ioniq 5-based robotaxi, we have applied various redundancy systems, in addition to a suite of essential technologies to ensure safety and convenience of the passengers”, said Woongjun Jang, Head of the Autonomous Driving Center [sic] at Hyundai Motor Group.

As part of the announcement, Motional confirmed it has struck a partnership with Lyft, a US-focused transportation service similar to Uber. From 2023, users of the Lyft application will be able to digitally hail the self-driving Ioniq 5 robotaxi across the rideshare network in several major US cities.

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This deal follows a successful three-year partnership between the two companies, with Lyft currently utilising a fleet of Motional’s autonomous BMW 5 Series vehicles in Las Vegas, in operation since mid-2018. Lyft also has a similar partnership with Ford and Argo AI, an autonomous driving firm founded by veterans of the Google and Uber automated driving programs.

The Motional robotaxi will debut in the metal later this week at the 2021 IAA in Munich, ahead of testing commencing in the United States later this year.

Built on the new E-GMP modular vehicle platform, the Ioniq 5 is Hyundai’s first electric vehicle built from the ground up. It will go on sale in Australia towards the end of 2021 – offering a human-only driving range of approximately 480 kilometres with the long-range 72.6kWh RWD powertrain.