Motional Starts Uber Eats Autonomous Delivery with Hyundai Ioniq 5

Hyundai Motor and Aptiv Joint Venture Motional Begins Delivery with Autonomous Driving Technology

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Leading autonomous driving technology company Motional has started autonomous delivery for Uber Eats customers in Santa Monica, California, in partnership with Uber. Motional's fully autonomous delivery service uses Hyundai Motor Company's electric vehicle, the Ioniq 5.

According to Motional on the 17th, the company entered the autonomous delivery market by signing an industry-first partnership with Uber in December last year. Motional and Uber foresee delivery innovation through the high safety, cost efficiency, and reliability of autonomous vehicles. This is the first time a Motional vehicle, which meets the Society of Automotive Engineers' autonomous driving standard Level 4, has been used for delivery.

Motional and Uber plan to jointly develop and provide an automated delivery model that can rapidly expand to multiple regions, including Los Angeles, USA. The two companies aim to establish a foundation for future business through this pilot test.

Motional modified the Hyundai Ioniq 5 to enable autonomous delivery. To provide smooth delivery service, they studied all touchpoints between restaurants and consumers for several months and conducted large-scale testing in Los Angeles, USA.

When the autonomous vehicle arrives, the franchise staff receives a notification and loads the ordered food into a specially designed rear seat compartment at the designated pickup location. When the vehicle reaches the delivery location, the customer receives a notification and can safely unlock the car door via the Uber Eats app to retrieve the ordered food.

Through this service, Motional and Uber plan to conduct analysis and research on technology integration, consumer demand, user convenience, and autonomous delivery functions. They expect that this research will contribute to providing a smoother customer experience and promoting extensive use cases of Motional's autonomous vehicles. Uber anticipates that autonomous vehicles will be used in various ways on its platform in the long term and stated that it will take the lead in delivering autonomous driving innovation technology to customers.

Abe Gabra, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Motional, said, "We are very proud to partner with Uber and introduce autonomous driving technology to Uber Eats customers. Autonomous delivery represents Motional's next commercialization phase. Motional will establish itself as a reliable autonomous vehicle supplier to build delivery networks."

Noah Zieh, Global Head of Uber Autonomous Mobility and Delivery, said, "We are very pleased to start a new project with Motional. Uber always supports delivering whatever customers want, wherever they want, by leveraging new technologies, and we look forward to seeing how Motional's outstanding autonomous driving technology will transform future mobility and transportation."