Hyundai and Waymo Partnered for autonomous driving technology

The partnership is to produce autonomous IONIQ5 SUV with Waymo’s technology, it will add into the Waymo’s fleet.

South Korea/ USA: Hyundai Motor Company., an automotive manufacturer had signed a long-term partnership with US based Waymo LLC. An autonomous driving technology company for developing autonomous technology in Hyundai vehicles. Initially planned to integrate Waymo 6th Gen fully autonomous technology “Waymo Driver” with all electric IONIQ5 SUV which serves the purpose of adding into Waymo’s fleet. Pilot test will begin by late 2025 and become available to Waymo One riders in the following year.

These fleets will be assembled at Hyundai Motor Group Meta plant America (HMGMA) EV manufacturing facility at Georgia and integrated with the Waymo’s tech. This partnership will produce Waymo tech integrated IONIQ 5s in substantial volume to support Waymo’s growing business.

Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO, Waymo said “We are thrilled to partner with Hyundai as we further our mission to be the world’s most trusted driver, Hyundai’s focus on sustainability and strong electric vehicle roadmap makes them a great partner for us as we bring our fully autonomous service to more riders in more places.”

José Muñoz, president and global COO of Hyundai Motor Company, and president and CEO of Hyundai Motor North America said “Hyundai and Waymo share a vision to improve the safety, efficiency and convenience of how people move, Waymo’s transformational technology is improving road safety where they operate, and the IONIQ 5 is the ideal vehicle to scale this further. The team at our new manufacturing facility is ready to allocate a significant number of vehicles for the Waymo One fleet as it continues to expand. Importantly, this is the first step in the partnership between the two companies and we are actively exploring additional opportunities for collaboration.”

Chang Song, President and Head of Hyundai Motor Group’s Advanced Vehicle Platform (AVP) Division said “We recently announced the launch of Hyundai Motor Company’s autonomous vehicle foundry business to provide global autonomous driving companies with vehicles capable of implementing SAE Level 4 or higher autonomous driving technology, There is no better partner for our first agreement in this initiative than industry-leader Waymo.”