Lee Min-hyung joined The Korea Times in 2014 and has worked as a journalist mainly in Korea’s finance, tech and automotive industry. He specializes in content creation, breaking news and in-depth analysis currently on transportation and mobility. You can reach him via mhlee@koreatimes.co.kr.
CES 2026 Hyundai Motor’s self-driving arm to start robotaxi operation in Las Vegas
Hyundai Motor Group's self-driving IONIQ 5 electric vehicle drives on a road in Las Vegas in this undated photo. Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group
By Lee Min-hyung
Motional on track to build large driving model for safer autonomous driving
LAS VEGAS — Motional, Hyundai Motor Group’s autonomous driving subsidiary, has unveiled a plan to commercialize its Level 4 self-driving service in Las Vegas by the end of 2026, in a display of technological confidence, particularly in safety, the carmaker said Thursday (local time).
Since 2018, Motional has conducted pilot tests for its robotaxi service in major cities around the world, including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Singapore. The company is now in the final stages of validating safety, driving quality and customer experience ahead of the service’s full-scale rollout. A robotaxi is an autonomous vehicle designed primarily for ride-hailing services.
The company has, in recent years, formed partnerships with several global ride-hailing platform operators to ensure stable service operations.
Motional is scheduled to begin a trial run of its driverless vehicle service early this year. The Level 4 robotaxi service meets the autonomous driving standard defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers International. Motional uses Hyundai Motor’s IONIQ 5 electric vehicle for the service.
Motional CEO Laura Major said the firm will continue to place a top priority on safety for the service.
“Motional takes safety very seriously in every development phase from technological progress to commercialization,” she told reporters during a press conference.
“Commercialization is the stage where we have proved the readiness of our technology to safely serve customers,” she said.
Hyundai Motor's IONIQ 5 self-driving electric SUV is parked inside a technical center of Motional in Las Vegas. Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group
The company also announced its mid- to long-term autonomous roadmap focusing on building a machine learning-based end-to-end (E2E) self-driving system. E2E autonomous driving relies on raw sensor data to generate vehicle control commands, enabling more optimized decision-making in areas such as perception and planning.
Motional also said it will gradually integrate its machine learning-driven self-driving models to develop large driving models.
The company is on track to enhance its self-driving service by leveraging large-scale driving data and machine learning, enabling it to respond more effectively to unpredictable road and traffic conditions, Motional said.
Hyundai Motor Group is also moving to strengthen tech partnerships among the group’s advanced vehicle platform division, 42dot and Motional. 42dot is an autonomous driving software developer that was acquired by the carmaker in 2022.
“Motional’s on-site operation experiences will be applied to the overall development process of the group’s software-defined vehicles (SDVs),” an official from the carmaker said. “Sophisticating the data-driven driving model, Hyundai Motor Group will level up its technological infrastructure for autonomous driving.”