Hyundai has partnered with Avride, a Yandex spinoff, to develop fully autonomous vehicles for ride-hailing, the companies announced on Monday. Under the agreement, Avride will deploy 100 Hyundai Ioniq 5 SUVs retrofitted with self-driving technology this year.
Avride, which operates sidewalk delivery robots in multiple cities, aims to launch a commercial robotaxi service soon. The company has already tested the Ioniq 5 and Hyundai Sonata for autonomous operations in Austin and Seoul over the past year and plans a “significant expansion” ahead of its official rollout.
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The Ioniq 5 vehicles for Avride will be built at Hyundai Metaplant America in Georgia before being integrated with self-driving systems. The first units will be deployed in Dallas later this year as part of Avride’s exclusive partnership with Uber for autonomous ride-hailing. Hyundai and Avride also plan to explore additional mobility applications, including delivery robots.
Avride emerged from Russia’s Yandex after the latter divested its autonomous vehicle division in 2023. Now headquartered in Austin, Avride has distanced itself from its Russian origins following the 2022 Ukraine invasion.
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Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 is increasingly being adopted in the autonomous mobility sector. Besides Avride, Waymo recently announced plans to integrate Hyundai EVs into its fleet, while Hyundai’s own robotaxi unit, Motional, also utilizes the model.