Hyundai pairs up with Yandex spinoff Avride to develop robotaxis | TechCrunch

Hyundai Motor Company and Avride have agreed to jointly develop autonomous vehicles in a tie up that will deepen the relationship between the two companies.

The deal will focus on autonomous vehicle technology designed for robotaxis. The two companies will also look into other use cases for the technology, including autonomous delivery services using Avride’s sidewalk delivery robots.

Under the partnership, Avride will expand its fleet of Hyundai IONIQ 5 vehicles, which will be assembled at the new Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America factory in Georgia and then integrated with the startup’s autonomous technology. These new vehicles will roll out later this year in Dallas as part of Avride’s robotaxi service that will only be accessed through the Uber app.

The deal is one of several partnerships that Avride, the Austin-based autonomous vehicle startup that spun out of Yandex, has landed in the past year. It’s also the latest example of Hyundai branching out beyond its own in-house efforts to develop the technology. AV powerhouse Waymo struck a deal with Hyundai in October 2024 to bring the IONIQ 5 EV to its robotaxi network.

Hyundai is the primary backer of Motional, an autonomous vehicle startup that was created in 2019 through a $4 billion joint venture with supplier Aptiv. Motional still exists and insiders tell TechCrunch the company is still working on so-called Level 4 autonomy, in which the system handles all vehicle navigation without the expectation humans will need to take over.

However, Motional has had its challenges, including Aptiv’s decision last year to no longer allocate capital toward the endeavor. Hyundai stepped up and agreed to invest another $1 billion into Motional, which included $448 million to buy 11% of Aptiv’s common equity interest. 

That capital came with consequences. Motional laid off hundreds of workers as part of major restructuring. CEO Karl Iagnemma stepped down in September.

Avride said its collaboration with Hyundai is not a replacement for Motional; a spokesperson indicated it was similar to the deal Hyundai has with Waymo.

“Our team has been working with Hyundai Motor Group since 2019, and we value the
professionalism and collaboration that have defined this partnership,” said Dmitry Polishchuk, CEO
of Avride. “This new agreement with Hyundai Motor Company will help us scale our operations
significantly, with plans to expand our fleet to up to 100 autonomous IONIQ 5’s in 2025, leveraging
Hyundai Motor’s IONIQ 5 and our autonomous driving technology.”

Chang Song, president and head of Hyundai Motor Group Advanced Vehicle Platform (AVP)
Division, added: “Hyundai Motor Company is actively advancing its autonomous vehicle foundry
business in pursuit of pioneering vehicles most suitable for Level 4 autonomous driving. We are
expanding our collaboration with leading autonomous driving tech companies like Avride, fostering
an environment where their innovations can actively participate in our endeavor to shape the future
of mobility.”