Motional opens Las Vegas robotaxi service to nighttime hours

News Summary

  • Jaising said that even though there’s a safety driver in the vehicle, Motional is already providing a fully autonomous experience for riders.“Meaning our systems and processes are designed to minimize interaction with the vehicle operators,” said Jaising.
  • Motional has not yet started charging passengers for rides.As part of the new launch, Motional has also connected its fleet of electric IONIQ 5 robotaxis to a Remote Vehicle Assistance (RVA) system to help the vehicles navigate obstacles or complex road scenarios.
  • “When the vehicle arrives, passengers open the door through their app, they start the ride through an in-vehicle display, and can also contact a remote assistant for questions if needed.”“This phase is an important part of our roadmap to offering a fully driverless service,” he continued.
  • In that vein, Motional will also feature an interface in the Uber and Lyft apps that gives passengers control over certain car functions, like unlocking the vehicle, starting the ride, contacting customer service and controlling the heat and A/C.
  • However, if something comes up that falls outside that ODD, the vehicle can ask for help.In the past, Motional’s human safety operators would just take over driving when that happened.
  • This helps us ensure riders are comfortable interacting with the vehicle autonomously before we remove the operators.”Inside Motional’s strategy to bring robotaxis to market
Autonomous vehicle technology company Motional is moving one step closer to its goal of removing the safety driver from robotaxi operations by expanding its service in Las Vegas to nighttime rides. [+3907 chars]