New self-driving cab service is reportedly in operation in Las Vegas, according to reports early on Aug. 17, Beijing time. The service, operated by online car company Lyft and self-driving car company Motional, is a prelude to a fully driverless service to be launched in New York in 2023.
Motional is a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv, and Motional has been testing self-driving cars in Las Vegas for more than four years through a partnership with Lyft. Back in 2018 during the annual Consumer Electronics Show, Aptiv and Lyft conducted a week-long test, after completing more than 100,000 passenger trips.
Today, the companies announced the public launch of the service, which marks the first time customers can ride in a self-driving, all-electric Hyundai Ioniq 5 vehicle that the companies have modified for commercial operations. A safety driver will sit behind the wheel in case of a malfunction, similar to other robo-taxi services that have launched over the years. But Motional and Lyft say a fully driverless vehicle will join the service next year.
Unlike other U.S. robo-taxi services, Motional and Lyft don’t require potential riders to sign a waiting list or sign a non-disclosure agreement to join the beta testing program. Rides are currently free, and both companies plan to begin charging for the service next year.
“The service is open to the public,” Akshay Jaising, Motional’s vice president of commercialization, said in an email. “Any Lyft rider in Las Vegas can apply for Motional’s self-driving service, with no confidentiality agreement and no registration required. That’s how Motional and Lyft have operated for the past four years. We believe the best feedback comes from real passengers, not employees or a limited number of participants.”
Customers who wish to ride in Motional’s self-driving cars will have access to a range of new features that make this service different from Lyft’s traditional vehicle service. For example, customers will be able to unlock their car doors through the Lyft app. Once inside, they can initiate a trip or contact customer support through the Lyft Autopilot app, which is available on the car’s touchscreen.
Motional and Lyft say these new features were informed by “extensive research and feedback from real passengers to maximize comfort and simplicity. Both companies are now making the new user features available to the public in preparation for the service to be fully driverless next year.
No non-disclosure agreements, no registration required. That’s how Motional and Lyft have operated for the past four years.
Motional says it has a license to “conduct fully driverless testing anywhere in Nevada. The companies say they will be licensed to take commercial rides with passengers before the launch of fully driverless cars in 2023.
Motional was originally announced in March 2020, when Hyundai said it would spend $1.6 billion to catch up with competitors in self-driving cars, in partnership with technology company Aptiv, formerly known as Delphi, which owns 50 percent of the joint venture. The company currently has facilities in Las Vegas, Singapore and Seoul, and has tested vehicles in Boston and Pittsburgh.
Currently, only a handful of self-driving car operators have actually put fully driverless vehicles, also known as Level 4 self-driving cars, on public roads. Waymo, Alphabet’s self-driving subsidiary, has been operating its Level 4 cars for years in suburban Phoenix, Arizona, and is currently applying for a permit in San Francisco.
Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors Holdings, has a commercial service for driverless cars in San Francisco, but it only operates at night.
Lyft, meanwhile, has positioned itself as a platform where customers in cities across the country can schedule self-driving vehicles. The ride-hailing company sold its self-driving car development unit to a Toyota subsidiary last year. Since then, Lyft has struck deals with Motional, Waymo and Argo, a self-driving company funded by Ford and Volkswagen.
Motional isn’t the only company using Sin City as a base for its robo-taxi business. Amazon subsidiary Zoox is also testing its self-driving cars in Las Vegas.
