Uber has added self-driving cars from other companies to its growing robotaxi network. Hyundai’s self-driving version of Motional, the Ioniq 5, is now available for transportation to five areas of the city. Currently, there is a safety monitor inside the vehicle.
Starting Friday, vehicles will pick up and drop off at the Westgate adjacent to the Las Vegas Convention Center, as well as the Resorts World and Encore Hotel-Casino rideshare zones along the Strip. Motional AV also handles transportation to the Town Square Shopping Center near the Las Vegas airport and curbside in downtown Las Vegas.
Uber and Motional said Friday they have plans to expand their service areas in the future, but did not provide details. As in other cities, there is no way to specifically request a robotaxi ride. Customers can increase their chances of being matched with a suitable vehicle by enabling self-driving pickup within the Uber app.
The companies said they expect to be able to run a fully driverless service in Las Vegas by the end of this year.
The Las Vegas launch is a milestone for Motional, which was in deep trouble two years ago. The company, founded as a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv, has fallen behind on its goal of launching a robotaxi service with Uber rival Lyft. Aptiv withdrew from funding the joint venture, leaving Hyundai with a decision to either regain its financial cushion or cut back on bait.
Hyundai decided to pump an additional $1 billion into Motional, but the wholly-owned AV startup went through a restructuring that resulted in about 40% of its employees being laid off. We also reviewed the method of building autonomous driving technology. Like many other companies in the industry, Motional decided to pivot to an approach based on neural networks.
“We recognized that there is great potential with all the advances happening within AI. We also recognized that although we have secure unmanned systems, there is a gap in reaching affordable solutions that can be universalized and scaled globally,” Motional President and CEO Laura Major said during a presentation at the company’s Las Vegas facility during the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show. “So we have made the difficult decision to pause commercial operations and slow down in the short term.”
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Demo activity at major tech conferences in January looked promising, even if some of the consumer software still felt a little lacking. Motional has been operating a robotaxi service for its employees for months since Las Vegas. The company previously shared plans with both Uber and Lyft to launch in multiple cities.
For Uber, Motional is one of many global self-driving vehicle partners. Over the past two years, the ride-hailing giant has signed deals with more than 25 companies around the world to bring self-driving cars to its platform. This week alone, Uber added a self-driving Nissan Leaf EV (powered by British self-driving technology startup Wave) to its network in Tokyo and announced plans to add Zoox robotaxis to its app in Las Vegas later this year.
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