Setback
Motional paused its commercial robotaxi work and cut about 40% of its staff. It had already missed a deadline to launch driverless rides with Lyft.
A delay, pause or setback
What the source says
“we made the very hard decision to pause our commercial activities, to slow down in the near term so that we could speed up.”
What it means
Motional robotaxi, from Motional (Hyundai), is at stage 3 of 5 on our ladder: pilot. A setback stays on the record next to the milestones; the stage moves down only when the rules say so.
Human help: A staff member rides along, ready to stop it.
More on Motional robotaxi
- Uber added Motional's self-driving Ioniq 5 cars to its app in Las Vegas, in five areas, with a safety monitor in each car.
- Motional said it had cut staff from a peak of about 1,400 to fewer than 600 and rebuilt its software around AI, aiming for driverless service in Las Vegas by the end of 2026.
- After partner Aptiv stopped funding the joint venture, Hyundai put another $1 billion into Motional.