Hyundai Motor Joint Venture Motional Partners with Uber to Enter Autonomous Food Delivery Service

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] Motional, a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and the U.S. autonomous driving technology company Aptiv, is entering the autonomous food delivery service market.

On the 17th, Motional announced that it signed a business agreement with Uber Technologies and will start autonomous delivery in the Santa Monica area of California, USA, from early next year.

When ordering food through Uber's food delivery application 'Uber Eats,' Hyundai's autonomous electric vehicle Ioniq 5 robotaxi will deliver the food. It is known that a 'safety driver' will be on board the delivery vehicle to respond to unexpected situations.

Motional and Uber anticipate that autonomous vehicles will play an important role in the order delivery ecosystem by increasing accessibility to convenient and economical delivery. In particular, Motional plans to diversify its product lineup by integrating autonomous driving technology with various customer-based services such as taxis and deliveries.

Karl Iagnemma, CEO of Motional, said, "We want to provide highly reliable autonomous driving technology to offer customers efficient and convenient delivery," adding, "We are confident that the cooperation with Uber will proceed successfully. In the long term, we will further develop Motional's technology across the entire Uber platform."

In addition, Motional is operating a robotaxi pilot service in Las Vegas in partnership with Uber's competitor Lyft. Motional and Lyft plan to launch a fully autonomous vehicle ride-hailing service in Las Vegas starting in 2023.

Meanwhile, Aurora, a U.S. autonomous vehicle startup invested in by Hyundai Motor Group, has also begun pilot operations of autonomous truck freight transport in Texas together with Uber.