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 has just announced plans to partner with three companies in the autonomous vehicle (AV) sector and gradually introduce their technology into its network starting in 2025. The three companies are Mobileye, May Mobility and Nexar. Mobileye is a pioneer of self-driving technology and has also developed advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Lyft's partnership with Mobileye will allow vehicles already equipped with Mobileye's tech to start transporting passengers to their destinations, integrating them into the Lyft network seamlessly. The technology will be available to both small and large fleets on Lyft.

Uber has launched public robotaxi rides in Las Vegas using Motional's Hyundai Ioniq 5 autonomous EVs with the aim of offering a full driverless service to the public in 2023. It will eventually expand to Los Angeles, where the two companies have been testing autonomous Uber Eats deliveries since May 2022. It's all part of a 10-year agreement between Uber and Motional to offer autonomous ride-hailing and deliveries. The taxi rides will be monitored by safety drivers, with the goal of launching a fully driverless service to the public in 2023. "Today, Motional becomes the first AV company to conduct all-electric autonomous rides on the Uber network for public passengers," said Motional VP Akshay Jaising.

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.

In brief America's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is looking into how AI technologies can be used to create a "Digital Police Officer" or "D-PO" in the future. Freedom-of-information requests filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation show the US Department of Energy-funded lab envisions cops may one day be able to partner up with a virtual crime-fighting assistant. D-PO would be capable of, for instance, tapping into facial recognition systems to alert a police officer on patrol to a suspect nearby, and can even offer advice on how best to apprehend the suspect. The EFF warned against the plod teaming up with software like D-PO, citing concerns over inaccurate facial recognition matches and biased predictive policing policies. "The good news is that in the emails we obtained, one of the authors acknowledges in internal emails that elements like a D-PO taking over driving is a'long way off' and monitoring live drone feeds is'not a near-term capability,' the digital privacy-focused non-profit said. The national lab has also described how a separate virtual assistant, BITS, could provide US border and customs agents with visual data to help them crack down on narcotics trafficking. "The records EFF received do not indicate any official interest from CBP or the Department of Homeland Security.

Uber is getting back into the robotaxi game, only this time it's tapping a third party to handle the self-driving tech. Motional, the Aptiv-Hyundai joint venture commercializing self-driving vehicle tech, will put its robotaxis on the Uber network later this year as part of a 10-year operating agreement that will eventually roll out to major cities across North America. The deal comes a year after the two companies struck a partnership to test autonomous delivery in Santa Monica, California using Motional's autonomous vehicles. As with the delivery pilot, the new agreement will feature Motional's all-electric Hyundai Ioniq 5-based autonomous vehicles. Uber and Motional have not disclosed where it will launch first.

Uber Technologies Inc. inked a deal with Motional Inc. to offer driverless deliveries and rides, rekindling its vision of a self-driving taxi fleet nearly two years after it sold its autonomous vehicle division. The San Francisco-based company is partnering with Motional, which is an autonomous driving joint venture between Hyundai Motor Co. and Aptiv Plc. The 10-year deal will pair Motional's all-electric IONIQ 5 robotaxis with Uber's ride-hailing and delivery platform, the companies said in a statement Oct. 6. They did not disclose financial terms. "This agreement will be instrumental to the wide scale adoption of robotaxis," Motional Chief Executive Officer Karl Iagnemma said in a statement.

Uber has signed a 10-year agreement to use autonomous Ioniq 5 EVs from Hyundai's Motional for ride-hailing and deliveries, the companies announced. The vehicles will be "strategically deployed" in cities around the US and start offering passenger rides later this year. "This agreement will be instrumental to the wide scale adoption of robotaxis," said Motional CEO Karl Iagnemma. "Motional now has unparalleled access to millions of riders and a roadmap to scale significantly over the next ten years." The companies are already working together.

Uber Eats customers in California and Texas may soon have their takeout delivered by a driverless delivery pod after the company signed a 10-year deal with autonomous driving startup Nuro. Today's announcement is the culmination of over four years of start-and-stop negotiations between the two companies. Uber wanted to use Nuro's vehicles to make deliveries in Houston back in 2019, but those plans never panned out. Now, the two companies have struck a decade-long deal to expand robot deliveries to more customers than ever. Neither company would disclose the number of vehicles nor the expected number of customers who will participate in these early tests, but they did say they eventually hope to expand the service area to the greater Bay Area in California.

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.