This service is the first in Motional and Uber's 10-year commercial partnership that will see Motional's Level 4 autonomous vehicles deployed for ride-hail and deliveries on the Uber network in major cities across the U.S. The public robotaxi service will first launch in Las Vegas before expanding at a later date to Los Angeles.
The taxi rides will be monitored by safety drivers, with the goal of launching a fully driverless service to the public in 2023. "Today, Motional becomes the first AV company to conduct all-electric autonomous rides on the Uber network for public passengers," said Motional VP Akshay Jaising.
Customers in Las Vegas interested in taking a ride in a Motional robotaxi can visit the Uber app and select UberX or Uber Comfort Electric options for a chance to be matched with a Motional AV. If an autonomous vehicle is available to complete the trip, Uber will match the rider to the vehicle and they will receive an offer to opt-in before the autonomous trip is confirmed and dispatched to pick them up.
It should be noted that Uber did offer "autonomous" taxi rides in 2016, but they always had an engineer on standby ready to take over driving if necessary.
Lyft also partners with Motional, a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv. It beat Uber to the punch by launching Motional rides in Las Vegas in August this year with safety drivers on board. Lyft has also said it will ditch those drivers and offer true autonomous service by next year.
Source: Motional
