Hyundai Motor Group and Motional, the Aptiv-Hyundai joint venture aimed at commercializing autonomous vehicles, announced plans on Tuesday to jointly develop production-ready versions of the all-electric IONIQ 5 robotaxi at Hyundai Motor’s new automotive innovation center in Singapore. Group. Singapore Innovation Center (HMGICS).
Motion will deploy the vehicles as part of its commercial service in the US starting in 2024. The company said the first models have already arrived and are undergoing testing and validation.
Motional has been around prototype autonomous versions of the IONIQ SUV since March 2021, but production vehicles will be built with all driverless technology, including hardware and software, fully integrated on the assembly line. Production vehicles also differ from the original versions in that they are certified to the US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. (FMVSS), which were not the original models, according to Motional. FMVSS certification means vehicles meet minimum performance requirements for design and construction to ensure occupant safety.
Prior to the current crisis, rival Cruise was trying to get approval to mass-produce the Origin robotaxi without a steering wheel or pedals (or even windshield wipers) and thus falling outside FMVSS standards. Motion has confirmed that the robotaxis IONIQ 5 will have a steering wheel and pedals for a human to handle.
Motion did not confirm how many vehicles it has shipped to the US, which markets it will develop the vehicles in, or what HMGICS’ production capacity is.
The AV company currently operates in Las Vegas, where it runs a service on the Uber, Lyft and Via platforms. About a year ago, Motional and Uber said they would be rolling out together in Los Angeles sometime soon, but the two don’t seem to have moved forward with those plans. Neither company immediately responded to TechCrunch for confirmation. Uber and Motional are still running pilots to test self-driving delivery in Santa Monica, but Motional doesn’t have the necessary permits to roll out an autonomous service to the public in California.
Singapore as a production location makes sense for Motional for a few reasons. First, Hyundai already assembles its IONIQ 5 business vehicles there, so its advanced production facilities are already in place. HMGICS also supports AV production with testing facilities and a calibration center, according to Hyundai. The Motional team will assist on-site with production, diagnostics, software development, calibration and validation.
The second reason is that Motion has a history with Singapore. Motional is a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv, formerly Delphi Automotive, which bought another self-driving car company called NuTonomy in 2017. NuTonomy was an MIT spinout that launched a robotaxi pilot project in Singapore in 2016.
While Motional said it is currently focused on the US market, the company is interested in expanding into international markets. Singapore, with its built roads, small size, strict regulatory environment and government support for AVs, is undoubtedly an attractive potential market for AV companies.
