Lyft, Motional to launch multi-city US robotaxi service in 2023
Lyft Inc and Motional will launch a multi-city US robotaxi service in 2023, the partners said on Wednesday.
The driverless vehicles will be provided by Motional, a joint venture between Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co and auto supplier Aptiv Plc, and will be based on a Hyundai platform.
The vehicles will be deployed in Lyft's ride-sharing network in the United States, the country's second-largest after that of Uber Technologies Inc.
Also Read : Hyundai to launch robotaxi service in US
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While the Lyft-Motional partnership is non-exclusive, the companies have been working together for three years on a pilot program in Las Vegas.
They join Waymo, a unit of tech titan Alphabet Inc , which operates a commercial robotaxi service in Phoenix. Lyft previously has deployed Waymo's driverless vehicles in its Phoenix ride-sharing network.
Lyft and Motional did not specify which cities they will serve first or say how many driverless vehicles will be deployed.
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Two other robotaxi developers, Cruise and Argo, continue to test self-driving vehicles in several US cities but have yet to launch commercial services.
Cruise is majority-owned by General Motors Co with Japan's Honda Motor Co as a minority shareholder. Argo's two principal shareholders are Ford Motor Co and Germany's Volkswagen AG.
Last week, another robotaxi aspirant, Uber, agreed to sell its Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) to self-driving startup Aurora.
Aurora, which is working to develop self-driving trucks, cars and delivery vehicles, will collaborate with Uber to launch self-driving vehicles on Uber's ride hailing and food delivery network.
