[Weekend Money] Hyundai Motor Robotaxis Pull Ahead of Waymo and Tesla

Hyundai Motor pursues a two-track strategy in the robotaxi industry
Supplying vehicles to Waymo and providing direct services through Motional
"More advantageous than Waymo and Tesla in supply cost and safety"

Hyundai Motor, which will launch a fully driverless, paid robotaxi service in the United States at the end of this year, is being evaluated as superior to competitors Google Waymo and Tesla in terms of cost and safety.

"Hyundai Motor, clear advantages such as robotaxi foundry role and vertical integration"

Research analysts Lee Jaemo and Park Jaeyoung at Ahris recently stated this in their industry report titled "Hyundai Motor as the TSMC of the Robotaxi Market." They noted that Google Waymo, which holds the No. 1 market share, has the drawback of a very high per-vehicle cost (estimated at about 150,000 dollars), because it must purchase vehicles from Jaguar or Chrysler and then modify them. In contrast, they emphasized that Hyundai Motor can drastically reduce the supply unit cost by directly mass-producing dedicated autonomous vehicles at large-scale plants such as Hyundai Motor Group Meta Plant America (HMGMA) in Georgia, United States. They also said that, whereas Tesla cuts costs by reducing the number of sensors, Hyundai Motor fully equips its vehicles at the hardware level with safety devices that meet regulatory requirements, giving it an advantage in entering the market.

They said Hyundai Motor supplies optimized hardware to the robotaxi market, much like TSMC does in the semiconductor market. In fact, Hyundai Motor is supplying Google Waymo with the Ioniq 5 equipped with its sixth-generation hardware (including five LiDAR sensors and six radar sensors) from HMGMA.

They added that another strength is Hyundai Motor Group’s ability to directly control manufacturing costs and technology standards through its group value chain. Vertical integration enables cost reduction and maximized efficiency. Hyundai Mobis is responsible for localizing and standardizing sensors and actuators, which are essential components for autonomous driving, while Hyundai AutoEver integrates high-precision maps and security solutions. Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center in Singapore (HMGICS) maximizes the efficiency of small-batch, multi-model production through a cell-based manufacturing process dedicated to robotaxis.

Hyundai Motor's Meta Plant America (HMGMA) production line in Georgia, USA. Hyundai Motor Group

'Single-sensor' Tesla vs 'multi-sensor' Waymo and Hyundai Motor

Waymo is an autonomous driving company under Google’s parent Alphabet that currently holds the No. 1 market share in the robotaxi sector. As of January this year, it has been providing 250,000 to 450,000 paid rides per week in major U.S. cities such as Los Angeles (LA) and San Francisco. It has adopted a multi-sensor approach that combines cameras, LiDAR, and radar, and aims to add more vehicles this year and turn profitable. Tesla adheres to a camera-based single-modality approach without radar or LiDAR. In January this year, it began pilot operations of unmanned robotaxis using unsupervised full self-driving (Unsupervised FSD) in Austin, Texas. It is targeting mass production of its dedicated steering-wheel- and pedal-less robotaxi “Cybercab” at the Texas Gigafactory in April, but there is a possibility of delays due to regulatory approval.

Hyundai Motor is pursuing a two-track strategy as both a direct service provider through its subsidiary Motional and an autonomous driving foundry that supplies vehicles to Google Waymo. The Ioniq 5 equipped with Waymo’s sixth-generation autonomous driving system began pilot operations in San Francisco, United States, in November last year. Hyundai Motor plans to begin fully driverless Level 4 paid robotaxi services in Las Vegas, United States, by the end of 2026.

The report explained that multi-sensor systems have many advantages over single-sensor systems in terms of regulatory compliance and reliability. Tesla’s position is that, just as humans drive using only their eyes and brains, other sensors are unnecessary if artificial intelligence (AI) can accurately interpret visual information. The low cost of cameras compared with LiDAR is the key driver for bringing the Cybercab’s per-vehicle price below 30,000 dollars. However, the single-sensor approach has been struggling to meet regulatory standards.

By contrast, Waymo and Hyundai Motor maintain a conservative, safety-first philosophy that “in life-critical safety control, inference cannot precede measurement.” LiDAR directly measures the distance to objects by emitting laser pulses. Multi-sensor systems with multiple safety layers are more advantageous for obtaining regulatory safety certifications. Their safety has also been demonstrated. According to an analysis of NHTSA data, Waymo’s bodily injury crash rate in complex urban environments is about 92% lower than that of human drivers.

The beginning of a power struggle: Waymo vs Tesla and Hyundai Motor

According to the report, the robotaxi industry this year has moved beyond the simple technology demonstration stage and entered the “main stage of commercialization,” in which tens of thousands of paid rides are being recorded every week in specific cities such as San Francisco in the United States. The market size this year is estimated at 5.76 billion dollars (about 7.8 trillion won), and it is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 86% to 99% through 2033, with the market potentially reaching up to 700 billion dollars.

This year in particular marks the overlap between Tesla’s mass production of the Cybercab, positioned as a challenger to Google Waymo, and the launch of commercial services by Hyundai Motor’s Motional. The report stated that both companies already possess sufficient technological maturity to operate robotaxis, and that the key will be how quickly they can obtain large-scale operating approvals from regulators in each country.