Hyundai-backed company to launch driverless robotaxi service in Las Vegas

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SEOUL, January 12 (AJP) - Motional, the autonomous-driving joint venture backed by Hyundai Motor Group, plans to commercialize a fully driverless robotaxi service in Las Vegas later this year.

Hyundai Motor said Monday Motional outlined the plan during a media event held Jan. 8 at its Las Vegas Technical Center, where it aims to launch an unmanned autonomous-driving service operating at Society of Automotive Engineers, or SAE, Level 4 by the end of the year.

Under the SAE’s six-level framework, which ranges from Level 0 to Level 5, Level 4 — described as “high automation” — allows a vehicle to operate without human intervention under most driving conditions.

Motional said it will begin pilot operations early this year to complete final safety and customer-experience validations ahead of a commercial rollout. Both the pilot and the commercial service will be conducted in partnership with a global ride-hailing company.

Las Vegas has served as Motional’s longest-running robotaxi testing ground and is considered a demanding environment for validating autonomous-driving systems, given its mix of traffic patterns, road layouts and tourist activity.

Chief Executive Laura Major declined to disclose the initial scale of the rollout but said Motional has sufficient vehicles to meet strong demand in Las Vegas and intends to expand service over time. “We plan to expand with Las Vegas as the center,” she said.

The company also outlined a longer-term technology roadmap that combines its existing rule-based autonomous-driving systems with end-to-end, or E2E, artificial-intelligence models.

Rule-based systems are typically easier to validate for safety but can struggle with rare or unpredictable scenarios. A hybrid approach, Motional said, is intended to improve both safety and operational efficiency.

End-to-end systems rely on AI models trained on large volumes of driving data to infer and respond to real-world situations, an approach prominently used by Tesla.

Motional also plans to improve its handling of so-called edge cases by integrating multiple machine-learning models — covering perception, prediction and vehicle control — into a single large driving model.

Hyundai Motor Group said it will deepen collaboration among Motional, group affiliate 42dot and its autonomous-vehicle platform division, AVP. The automaker is considering linking Motional’s operational data and validation systems from the Level 4 commercialization process with 42dot’s software-defined vehicle roadmap to improve development efficiency in autonomous driving and SDVs.

The plan also calls for expanded use of shared data infrastructure and standardized safety evaluation frameworks across the group.

“This year, when we begin our first commercial driverless service, is very important for Motional,” Major said. “We are strengthening our capabilities so we can advance the technology and expand the scale of service operations.”
Kim A-ryung 기자 kimar0604@economidaily.com

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