Dallas just got closer to having robotaxis drive paying customers on city streets. Avride—an Austin-based autonomous driving technology and delivery robot company—is partnering with Hyundai Motor Company to jointly develop and operate vehicles capable of “fully autonomous driving.” The collaboration will put Avride’s self-driving tech in Hyundai’s electric IONIQ 5 SUV, paving the way for “future mobility solutions, such as robotaxis and autonomous delivery services.”
And that future will begin in Dallas.
Dallas Innovates first told you about Avride’s planned Dallas rollout of robotaxis and delivery robots last October via a partnership with Uber.
Avride announced yesterday that the Hyundai/Avride robotaxis “will be first available later this year in Dallas as part of Avride’s robotaxi services exclusively on Uber.”
The Austin company—which has additional offices in Tel Aviv, Israel; Belgrade, Serbia; and Seoul, South Korea—said its team already has “extensive experience” working with Hyundai vehicles as platforms for autonomous vehicles, including the Sonata and IONIQ 5. The newly announced partnership will expand on that capability, with Hyundai Motor serving as a key technology partner. “The companies will focus on enabling the deployment of autonomous vehicles equipped with Avride’s driving system,” Avride said.
Aiming for up to 100 self-driving IONIQ 5’s in 2025
“Our team has been working with Hyundai Motor Group since 2019, and we value the professionalism and collaboration that have defined this partnership,” Avride CEO Dmitry Polishchuk said in a statement. “This new agreement with Hyundai Motor Company will help us scale our operations significantly, with plans to expand our fleet to up to 100 autonomous IONIQ 5’s in 2025, leveraging Hyundai Motor’s IONIQ 5 and our autonomous driving technology.”
The first self-driving IONIQ 5’s are expected to be deployed in the coming months. They’ll be assembled at the new Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America manufacturing facility in Georgia, before being integrated with Avride’s autonomous technology.
Then the robotaxis will make their first appearance in Dallas.
In pursuit of ‘pioneering vehicles’—and delivery robots, too
In October, Uber and Avride announced an autonomous delivery and mobility partnership that was to bring robot deliveries to Dallas later in 2024, followed by a robotaxi service in 2025. [Photo: Business Wire]
Chang Song, president and head of Hyundai Motor Group’s Advanced Vehicle Platform Division, said Hyundai “is actively advancing its autonomous vehicle foundry business in pursuit of pioneering vehicles most suitable for Level 4 autonomous driving.”
“We’re expanding our collaboration with leading autonomous driving tech companies like Avride, fostering an environment where their innovations can actively participate in our endeavor to shape the future of mobility,” Song added in a statement.
As part of the new agreement, Avride and Hyundai Motor will first focus on developing a robotaxi fleet—but they say they’ll also explore further collaborations, “including autonomous delivery services using Avride’s robots, with a shared commitment to advancing the future of smart transportation.”
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