Motional, a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv, has recently announced the release of a Robotaxi based on the IONIQ 5, which is scheduled to start carrying passengers as early as 2023.
The IONIQ 5 is equipped with over 30 sensors, although the specific types and quantities of sensors have not been revealed on the official website. However, it can be seen from the official images that the vehicle is equipped with a mechanical lidar on each side of the fenders and on the roof, as well as millimeter-wave radar and ultrasonic radar around the vehicle.
The IONIQ 5 Robotaxi is scheduled to be launched in Las Vegas in 2023, providing transportation services for users through the American ride-sharing platform Lyft, then expanding to other cities in the United States and globally.
Now, let’s introduce Motional. Founded in March 2020 as a joint venture between Hyundai and major supplier Aptiv, the company is dedicated to the development and commercialization of self-driving cars that meet the SAE L4 autonomous driving standards.
So far, there are already several players in the autonomous driving market in Silicon Valley, including Waymo, Cruise, Argo AI, Aurora, Zoox and Motional.
The modern IONIQ 5 is the first model built on the E-GMP pure electric platform. Although the body length is only 4635 mm, the wheelbase is as long as 3000 mm, exceeding the family’s mid-to-large SUV, Palisade. The IONIQ 5 offers two battery options, 58 kWh and 72.6 kWh. The high-performance version of the IONIQ 5 has a maximum power of 225 kW, a maximum torque of 605 Nm, and an acceleration of 5.2 seconds per 100 kilometers. With a 72.6 kWh battery configuration, the NEDC range is 600 km. In addition, the IONIQ 5 is also a model built on an 800 V architecture. It only takes 14 minutes to charge from 30% to 80% of the battery capacity.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.