Motional was the autonomous driving company that partnered with Lyft to deploy robotaxis in Las Vegas in 2022.
The partnership grew from work conducted by Aptiv and its autonomous-driving subsidiary nuTonomy before Motional was established as a Hyundai Motor Group–Aptiv joint venture in 2020. Motional supplied the autonomous-vehicle technology, while Lyft provided the ride-hailing network through which passengers could request trips.
In August 2022, the companies introduced an all-electric Hyundai Ioniq 5-based vehicle on Lyft’s Las Vegas network. The public service initially operated with safety personnel in the vehicle, while the companies described it as a step toward fully driverless commercial rides.
The date and city can cause confusion because Motional also worked with Via and later Uber in Las Vegas. Those were separate deployments. Waymo, Cruise and Aurora are also major autonomous-driving names, but Motional is the company tied to Lyft’s 2022 Las Vegas robotaxi rollout.