Uber autonomous taxis already roam the streets of Las Vegas

Your next trip in uber in Las Vegas you might not have a driver behind the wheel. Yes yes, as we say, don’t be surprised.

And it is that, Uber has partnered with driverless technology company Motional (a joint venture of Hyundai and Aptiv) to offer autonomous vehicle rides in Las Vegas, with plans to expand to other major cities such as Los Angeles in the very near future.

The launch is part of a 10-year agreement that will unite Motional’s all-electric IONIQ 5 robotaxis with Uber’s transportation and delivery platform. Motional plans to launch its own driverless public service in 2023.

“Motional has proven to be an industry leader in steadily and safely advancing autonomous technology toward a future driverless”said Noah Zych, Uber’s global head of autonomous mobility and delivery.

Uber bets on autonomous vehicles

The autonomous vehicles by Motional They can be booked through the Uber app on Uber X or Uber Comfort Electric. If an electric car is available to complete the trip, Uber will match the user to the vehicle and the person will have the opportunity to accept it before the trip is confirmed and sent to pick them up.

At first there will be operators of security humans inside vehiclesfor greater control and safety, but Motional and Uber hope to start operating driverless in 2023. Like other Motional partnerships, the robotaxi service with Uber will be initially free while companies collect user feedback and see if everything works correctly.

Uber, if we recall, has already developed its own fleet of autonomous vehicles with the intention of replacing all of its human drivers, but the program was shut down after a woman was struck and killed by one of the company’s vehicles in 2017. It seems that this new option could be successful and yes it would bring a greater security and trust.

According to Akshay Jaising, Vice President of Marketing at Motional, rather than building your own app and service, it makes more sense to focus on what Motional does best and take your technology where users already are.

Of course, by partnering with autonomous vehicle technology companies, this giant of the transport of users (Uber), has maintained a stake in the industry without having to do research and development in-house, which guarantees you a great future in this market.