Lyft to offer rides in fully self-driving vehicles in Las Vegas by 2023


The company said Las Vegas will be the first of several U.S. markets to see the self-driving ride-share vehicles. File Photo by Ronda Churchill/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Autonomous vehicle technology company Motional announced on Tuesday that it will help offer fully driverless Lyft service within two years -- and they'll pick up their first U.S. passengers in Las Vegas.

Motional, a $4 billion joint venture between Hyundai and auto supplier Aptiv, said Las Vegas will be the first U.S. city to see the driverless vehicles in 2023.

The company said it's been operating driverless technology with Lyft in Las Vegas for three years, and they will use Hyundai's electric IONIQ 5-based robotaxi.

"Lyft's powerful network is the ideal platform for deploying autonomous vehicles at scale," Lyft co-founder and CEO Logan Green said in a statement.

"We can't wait for riders in Las Vegas to be the first to summon fully driverless cars on the Lyft platform."

Motional President Karl Iagnemma said Vegas will be the first of several U.S. markets to see the self-driving ride-share vehicles.

"[We] are now laying the foundation for large-scale deployments of driverless robotaxis," Iagnemma said. "We look forward to beginning this next chapter in Las Vegas, and then quickly scaling to other markets across the Lyft network."