Hyundai and Waymo sign partnership to develop autonomous cars

Hyundai Motor Company and Waymo announced they have entered a multi-year, strategic partnership. In the first phase of this partnership, the companies will integrate Waymo’s sixth generation fully autonomous technology – the Waymo Driver – into Hyundai’s all-electric IONIQ 5 SUV, which will be added to the Waymo One fleet over time.

The IONIQ 5 vehicles destined for the Waymo fleet will be assembled at the new Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA) EV manufacturing facility in Georgia and then integrated with Waymo’s autonomous technology. The companies plan to produce a fleet of IONIQ 5s equipped with Waymo’s technology in significant volume over multiple years to support Waymo One’s growing scale. Initial on-road testing with Waymo-enabled IONIQ 5s will begin by late 2025 and become available to Waymo One riders in the years to follow.

The Hyundai IONIQ 5 will be delivered to Waymo with specific autonomous-ready modifications like redundant hardware and power doors.