Ride-hailing service provider Uber has signed a 10-year, multi-market commercial agreement with Motional, a developer of driverless robotic cabs. As part of the agreement, Uber will initially deploy Motional’s IONIQ 5 electric robot cabs in select markets and potentially reach millions of customers by autonomously providing taxi rides and delivery services.
Motional is a developer of self-driving technology and a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv – specialists in advanced safety, electrification and vehicle connectivity. It is headquartered in Boston and recently opened an office in Santa Monica, California, where the company has been testing its driverless robotic cab built on the Hyundai IONIQ 5 electric vehicle.
The public first saw Motional’s IONIQ 5 robot cab in 2021, and it has already completed a fully autonomous cross-country drive in the United States, in addition to 100,000 public rides. Prior to Friday’s news, Motional had already established a working relationship with Uber that included autonomous food deliveries in the Los Angeles area.
Now, the companies have expanded their partnership into a comprehensive commercial agreement that will include driverless robot cab rides for Uber passengers in addition to expanded autonomous deliveries.
The driverless robo-taxi developer shared details of a new decade-long agreement with Uber in a press release Friday outlining hopes for firm adoption of robo-taxis in the United States. The partnership is the first in the industry to include both a driverless taxi service and a delivery service, according to Motional. Both use Hyundai IONIQ 5 robo-taxis, at least in the beginning.
The companies said the new commercial agreement builds on the aforementioned pilot program, which utilizes Motional robo-taxis to serve Uber Eats customers. Based on the success of the program, the companies have expanded their delivery operations and now intend to include passenger rides and more cities, said Karl Iagnemma, Motional’s president and CEO.
"This agreement will serve as a catalyst for the widespread adoption of robo-taxis. motional now has unparalleled access to millions of riders and a roadmap for significant expansion over the next decade. We are proud to partner with Uber to enable driverless ridesharing and delivery services in cities across the United States."
Uber said it intends to share targeted insights with Motional to effectively position the latter’s robo-taxis to maximize revenue-generating services while reducing customer wait times and costs – some of the benefits the two companies expect to achieve with driverless electric vehicle technology.
The companies shared that they intend to strategically deploy these driverless taxi and delivery services in cities across the U.S., with the first trips expected to begin later this year. To begin, Motional’s IONIQ 5 robo-taxi will offer taxi services in the UberX and Uber Comfort Electric categories in cities where they are available.
