Prime Highlight:
- Motional is set to launch a commercial, fully driverless robotaxi service in Las Vegas by the end of 2026 after restructuring and rebuilding its AI-driven technology stack.
- The company’s new “AI-first” system allows end-to-end management of driving tasks, enabling faster adaptation to new cities and lower operational costs.
Key Facts:
- Motional has already begun operating robotaxis with safety drivers for employees and plans a public launch later this year through an unnamed ride-hailing partner.
- Hyundai Motor Group injected $1 billion to support Motional after Aptiv exited, and the workforce was reduced by 40% to under 600 employees during mid-2024 restructuring.
Background:
Motional, an autonomous vehicle company backed by Hyundai Motor Group, has changed its robotaxi plan and now aims to launch a commercial driverless service in Las Vegas by the end of 2026.
The move comes nearly two years after the company missed an earlier launch target and went through deep restructuring. Aptiv exited as a financial backer, prompting Hyundai to inject another $1 billion to keep operations running. Motional also cut its workforce by about 40% in mid-2024, shrinking from nearly 1,400 employees to fewer than 600.
The company said it has now rebuilt its technology stack with an “AI-first” design. Earlier systems relied on many small machine learning models and rule-based software to handle different driving tasks. Motional has replaced much of that structure with a large foundation model that can manage the full driving process end-to-end, while still keeping smaller tools for developers.
CEO Laura Major said the shift will help the system adapt faster to new cities and reduce costs. Engineers can now retrain the model with new data so the car learns local traffic signals and road patterns without rewriting the software.
Motional has already started operating robotaxis with safety drivers for its employees in Las Vegas. It plans to open the service to the public later this year through an unnamed ride-hailing partner. The safety driver will be removed by the end of 2026, turning the service fully driverless.
During a recent test drive, the company showed how its Hyundai Ioniq 5 robotaxi handled busy hotel pickup zones and parking areas, places it previously avoided. While the system still moves cautiously in complex scenes, it showed clear improvement over past versions.
Major said robotaxis are just the first step. In the long term, Motional wants to bring Level 4 self-driving technology to personal vehicles, making hands-free driving a standard feature.
