Lyft and Motional’s all-electric robotaxi service is now live in Las Vegas - The Verge

Motional and Lyft announced their all-electric robotaxi service is now publicly available in Las Vegas. Next year, the companies plan on introducing fully driverless rides to the service.

A new robotaxi service has officially launched for public use in Las Vegas. It’s being run by Lyft and an autonomous vehicle company called Motional and is a prelude to a fully driverless service that is set to launch in the city in 2023.

Motional, which is a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv, has been testing its autonomous vehicles in Las Vegas through a joint partnership with Lyft for over four years now. The testing began as a weeklong pilot between Aptiv and Lyft during the annual Consumer Electronics Show in 2018 and has since gone on to complete over 100,000 passenger trips.

Today, the companies are announcing the public launch of that service, marking the first time that customers can hail a ride in one of the company’s autonomous, all-electric Hyundai Ioniq 5 vehicles that has been modified for commercial operations. A safety driver will remain behind the steering wheel in case something goes wrong, similar to how other robotaxi services have launched over the years. But Motional and Lyft say fully driverless vehicles will join the service next year.

Unlike other robotaxi services in the US, Motional and Lyft aren’t requiring potential riders to sign up for a waitlist or sign a non-disclosure agreement to join a beta-testing program. And rides will be free; the companies plan to start charging for the service next year.

“The service is open to the public,” Akshay Jaising, Motional’s VP of commercialization, said in an email. “Any Lyft rider in Las Vegas can request a Motional AV. No NDAs. No sign-ups. That’s how Motional and Lyft have operated for the past four years. We believe the best feedback is from real riders, not employees or limited participants.”

https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/16/23306770/lyft-motional-robotaxi-service-las-vegas-hyundai-ev

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