Hyundai Motor Co. will start delivering electric Ioniq 5 SUVs to Waymo to serve as robotaxis on the company’s ride-hailing platform, the automaker announced at its Aug. 26 investor day event. The vehicles will enable the international expansion of robotaxi services as early as 2027.
The Ioniq 5 SUVs will be built at the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Georgia using a local supply chain. According to the filing, the Waymo robotaxis will leverage the automaker’s expertise in manufacturing, design, software, and finance.
Hyundai’s robotaxi partnership with Waymo is one of several collaborations between automakers and ride-hailing companies. In 2024, Hyundai and Waymo announced a multi-year strategic partnership to integrate Waymo’s autonomous driving technology stack into the Ioniq 5 electric SUV.
This partnership is part of a larger trend of automakers and ride-hailing companies working together to deploy fully driverless vehicles. They are integrating Waymo’s autonomous driving technology stack into the Ioniq 5 electric SUV.
The push to deploy commercial robotaxis at scale is also attracting major investments. In February, Waymo closed on a $16 billion funding round as it continues to scale its commercial autonomous ride-hailing business.
Related: Ferrari Unveils New V8 Coupe CZ26 Model
Waymo said it tripled its annual volume to 15 million rides in 2025, indicating the potential revenue of commercial robotaxi operations. Other companies, such as Lucid Group and Uber, are also making significant investments in robotaxi technology, including the development of new electric vehicles.
Last September, Lucid Group closed on a $300 million investment from Uber to add up to 20,000 Lucid Gravity SUV robotaxis to its ride-hailing platform. Then in March, Uber announced it will invest up to $1.25 billion in electric vehicle maker Rivian through 2031.
Hyundai will also make use of robotaxi-ready Ioniq 5 SUVs as part of its Motional joint venture, which plans to deploy the vehicles later this year as fully driverless. Motional was founded in 2020 as a joint venture between Hyundai and auto supplier Aptiv.
In May 2024, Aptiv divested its 50% stake in Motional, reducing it to 15% and leaving Hyundai as the majority owner. The first Motional robotaxis were deployed on Uber’s ride-hailing network in Las Vegas as part of a separate partnership between the two companies.
In March, Hyundai announced it was expanding its partnership with Nvidia to accelerate the deployment of next-generation, Level 2 advanced driver assist systems, as well as more advanced Level 4 autonomous driving technology in select vehicles, including robotaxis through the Motional joint venture.
