A company is closer to putting self-driving robotaxis on the highway. Ever wonder when you'll actually see self-driving robotaxis on the highway? Well, Motional is getting closer. Its IONIQ 5 robotaxi just nailed high-speed tests, cruising at 75 mph. This is a big deal for its goal of making transportation safer and easier for everyone.

Lyft and Motional have announced plans to launch a driverless ride-hailing service in Los Angeles using Ioniq 5 EV Level 4 robotaxis. Los Angeles will be the second city serviced by the two companies, which started offering public rides in Las Vegas earlier this year. Motional, a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv, has been testing autonomous vehicles without safety drivers for exactly two years. As with the Las Vegas service, the Ioniq 5 vehicles will be integrated into Lyft's Los Angeles network. When the car arrives, you can unlock the doors using the Lyft app, and each vehicle has a dedicated passenger display that can be used to contact a remote agent at any time.

Motional's driverless Ioniq 5 is entering service earlier than expected. On Tuesday, the company and Lyft announced that the vehicle is ready to begin offering rides to the public, starting with residents and visitors to Las Vegas. With today's announcement, the Ioniq 5 is the first fully electric autonomous vehicle to join Lyft's network. In Las Vegas, Motional, a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv, had been testing autonomous vehicles without safety drivers since 2020. With its public launch, the Ioniq 5 is fully integrated into Lyft's software.

Motional, the autonomy-focused joint venture from Hyundai and Aptiv, has chosen its next robotaxi -- and it's entirely what you'd expect. The company has revealed that its first commercial robotaxi will be based on the Ioniq 5, adding self-driving hardware (cameras, LiDAR and radar) to the brand new EV. It'll also include in-cabin interfaces to give passengers some options during their ride, such as asking for an extra stop. The crossover includes "safety redundancies" to keep critical systems running. Motional can also take remote control if the robotaxi doesn't know how to handle a given situation -- likely necessary when this is a Level 4 self-driving car that can't quite operate autonomously under all conditions.

Motional has announced it wants to more than double its number of employees in the state, and most of them will work in Los Angeles as human operators for self-driving cars that will learn, inch-by-inch, mile-by-mile, how to drive themselves. Until Motional gets the required permits from the California DMV, the self-driving car fleet will have to always have human drivers behind the wheel and ready to step in at a moment's notice. Motional is already testing vehicles in Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Boston, and Singapore. Initially, the vehicles will map the roads, and self-driving tests will be conducted once that stage is completed. The first stage will focus on the Santa Monica area, where Motional has set up an office and an operations facility. Furthermore, Motional will hire people for its new research and development office in San Francisco, so those interested in career opportunities in this field should check out the company's website.