Hyundai Motor Group (Hyundai Motor Group) and Aptiv-Hyundai joint venture Motional, which aims to commercialize autonomous vehicles, announced on Tuesday plans to jointly develop mass-produced pure electric IONIQ5 self-driving taxis at Hyundai Motor Group's new innovation center (Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center Singapore, HMGICS) in Singapore.
Motional will deploy these vehicles in the United States as part of its commercial services starting in 2024. The first batch of models has arrived and is undergoing testing and validation, the company said.
Motional has been driving self-driving prototypes of the IONIQ SUV since March 2021, but the production vehicle will have all self-driving technology, such as hardware and software, fully integrated on the assembly line. According to Motional, the difference between a production car and a prototype is that the production car has passed the U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) certification, while the prototype has not. Obtaining FMVSS certification means that the vehicle has been designed and constructed to meet minimum performance requirements to ensure the safety of its occupants.
Before the current crisis, rival Cruise tried to get approval to mass-produce its Origin self-driving taxi, but the vehicle had no steering wheel or pedals (not even windshield wipers) and therefore did not meet FMVSS standards. Motional has confirmed that the IONIQ5 self-driving taxi will be equipped with a steering wheel and pedals for human control.
Motional would not confirm how many vehicles it has sent to the United States, in which markets they will be deployed, or what HMGICS's production capabilities are.
The self-driving technology company currently operates in Las Vegas and provides services for the Uber, Lyft and Via platforms. About a year ago, Motional and Uber said they would launch a service together in Los Angeles as the next step, but the parties appear not to have moved forward with those plans. Uber and Motional are still conducting pilots in Santa Monica to test self-driving delivery services, but Motional lacks the licenses needed to deploy self-driving services to the public in California.
Singapore makes sense for Motional as a production base for several reasons. First, Hyundai Motor already assembles its IONIQ5 commercial vehicle there, so its advanced production facilities are already established. Hyundai Motor said HMGICS also provides testing facilities and calibration centers for autonomous driving technology. Motional's team will be on site to assist with production, diagnostics, software development, calibration and validation.
The second reason is that Motional has historical ties with Singapore. Motional is a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv (formerly Delphi Automotive), which acquired another self-driving car company called NuTonomy in 2017. NuTonomy, an MIT spinout, launched a self-driving taxi pilot project in Singapore in 2016.
While Motional says it is currently focused on the U.S. market, the company intends to expand internationally. With its orderly streets, small land area, strict regulatory environment, and strong government support for self-driving cars, Singapore is undoubtedly an attractive potential market for self-driving car companies.