Hyundai, in partnership with Motional, has revealed the fully autonomous Ioniq 5 robotaxi, which will be a completely driverless car for public ride services beginning in 2023. Motional is a driverless tech firm based out of Boston, USA and founded in March last year.

• Ioniq 5 robotaxi boasts of level 4 autonomy
• To begin service in 2023 via self-driving service Lyft
• Will be officially unveiled at the Munich Motor Show next week

Hyundai Ioniq 5 robotaxi: what is it?

The Ioniq 5 robotaxi boasts of level four autonomous tech, which means it can drive itself in all situations unless a driver takes manual control. It’s based on the all-electric Hyundai Ioniq 5 that was introduced earlier this year. The Ioniq 5 on its own does not feature any autonomous tech.

The companies say the car is fitted with 30 exterior sensors, comprising cameras, radar and lidar, to give 360-degree perception and an ability to detect objects at an "ultra-long-range" while on the move. Should the car come across "an unusual road scenario, such as road construction or flooding", Motional says an operator can take control of the vehicle remotely and guide it back to safety.

“This robotaxi represents Motional’s vision of a driverless future becoming a reality,” said Karl Iagnemma, president and CEO of Motional. “Through our strategic partnership with Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv, we have unparalleled automotive and software expertise across our entire vehicle development process.

"This deep collaboration enables us to manufacture a robotaxi that’s both highly safe and reliable, and is cost-optimised for global production. We are focused on mass commercialisation and the Ioniq 5 robotaxi is built for that purpose.”

Hyundai Ioniq 5 robotaxi: expected launch

Motional said the Ioniq 5 robotaxi will begin transporting passengers in 2023 via self-driving service Lyft, which claims to have conducted hundreds of thousands of autonomous trips in Las Vegas. The robotaxi will operate in "multiple US markets", although Motional has yet to confirm these.

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 made its debut earlier this year, with 58kWh and 73kWh batteries offering between 240 and 300 miles of range respectively. Models with the larger battery can charge at up to 220kW, replenishing the cells from 10% to 80% full in 18 minutes.

The robotaxi will be officially unveiled to the public at next week’s Munich motor show, where Hyundai promises to reveal more information about the vehicle.

Hyundai in India

Back here in India, Hyundai finally debuted its much anticipated N performance division in India with the launch of the i20 N Line yesterday. Following this, the next major launch for the South Korean carmaker will be the Casper micro-SUV, which too was revealed in production form recently.