According to media reports, on March 5, Hyundai announced a partnership with autonomous driving technology company Avride to co-develop self-driving ride-hailing vehicles. As part of this collaboration, Avride plans to deploy 100 Hyundai Ioniq 5 vehicles equipped with autonomous driving technology by the end of this year.
Currently, Avride operates sidewalk delivery robots in several cities and is preparing to launch a commercial autonomous taxi service in the near future. Over the past year, the company has been conducting tests in Austin, U.S., and Seoul, South Korea, using Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Sonata models. In a March 5 press release, Avride stated that it intends to "significantly expand" its fleet before launching commercial services.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 vehicles used in Avride's fleet will be assembled at Hyundai's new Metaplant factory in Georgia before being integrated with Avride's autonomous driving technology. The first batch of vehicles is expected to arrive in Dallas later this year, where they will be deployed as part of Avride's partnership with Uber. Under the agreement between Avride and Uber, self-driving vehicles will be made available on the Uber app.
Beyond autonomous vehicles, Hyundai and Avride also announced plans to explore other areas of collaboration, including delivery robots and smart mobility applications.
Founded in July 2023, Avride was established by a group of former core executives and engineers from Russian autonomous driving company Yandex. The company focuses on developing self-driving technology for sidewalk delivery robots and autonomous taxis. Avride is headquartered in Austin, Texas, where it plans to test and deploy its technology. Meanwhile, other companies such as Waymo, Cruise, Zoox, and Volkswagen are also testing and deploying self-driving vehicles in Austin.
This is not the first time the Hyundai Ioniq 5 has been used in autonomous driving projects. Previously, Waymo announced plans to integrate Hyundai electric vehicles into its autonomous taxi service, though the exact number of vehicles remains undisclosed. Additionally, the Ioniq 5 is also part of the fleet operated by Motional, Hyundai's autonomous taxi subsidiary.
