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Two years after a brutal restructuring gutted Motional’s workforce and halted its business operations, the Hyundai-backed audiovisual company is back on the Strip, still with a security operator for now, but with a promise to eliminate one by the end of 2026.
Uber and Motional have relaunched a Commercial robotaxi service in Las Vegas.making all-electric Motional IONIQ 5 vehicles available to passengers in key locations on and around the Strip beginning March 13, 2026.
The service marks a major milestone for Motional, which two years ago completely halted business operations, cut roughly 40% of its workforce and was left fighting for its survival after co-founder Aptiv withdrew its funding.
The relaunch is not yet completely autonomous. Initially, Motional’s IONIQ 5 robotaxis will carry a human vehicle operator who will monitor the road from the driver’s seat.
The company says it hopes to eliminate the safety operator and begin a fully driverless service by the end of 2026, meeting the goal it set during its 2024 restructuring.
How the service works
Riders requesting an UberX, Uber Electric, Uber Comfort or Uber Comfort Electric can be assigned a Motional IONIQ 5 at no additional cost. When they match, a notification appears in the app giving passengers the option to accept the autonomous vehicle or switch to a conventional ride.
Riders who want to maximize their chances of getting an AV can sign up through the Ride Preferences section in their Uber app settings.
Once a robotaxi arrives, the vehicle can be unlocked and the journey can begin entirely through the Uber app.
Inside, audio signals urge passengers to close the doors and fasten their seat belts. If help is ever needed, a human assistance team can be accessed through the Uber app.
At launch, the service covers designated rideshare zones along Las Vegas Boulevard at Resorts World Las Vegas and Encore at the Wynn, as well as Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, curbside locations in downtown Las Vegas and the Town Square shopping district near the airport.
Both companies say they plan to expand the operating area but did not provide details.
The vehicle: SAE Level 4, FMVSS certified
The IONIQ 5 robotaxi was jointly developed by Motional and Hyundai Motor Group and is custom designed for transportation operations. According to Uber, it is one of the first SAE Level 4 capable autonomous vehicles certified under the US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), the federal regulatory framework for motor vehicle equipment.
SAE Level 4 means that the vehicle can handle all driving functions within a defined operational design domain without human intervention, although it does not require the ability to operate in all conditions everywhere.
“This milestone reflects our shared commitment to introducing autonomous vehicles in a way that prioritizes safety, increases reliability, and expands access to more travel options for our customers.” said Sarfraz Maredia, President of Autonomous Mobility and Delivery, Uber
Motional’s road back: from near collapse to relaunch
The relaunch is the culmination of a turbulent two-year recovery. Motional was founded in 2020 as a $4 billion equal joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and automotive technology company Aptiv.
It piloted rides in Las Vegas through Uber and Lyft and deliveries in Los Angeles through Uber Eats, all with a life safety operator present, and racked up more than 130,000 autonomous rides through those programs.
The company’s problems crystallized in early 2024, when Aptiv announced it would stop allocating capital to the company, citing the high cost of commercializing robotaxi technology and an uncertain path to profitability. Aptiv had forecast a non-cash capital loss of around $340 million for 2024 alone.
With Aptiv’s withdrawal threatening to destabilize the entire company, Hyundai stepped in with a nearly $1 billion commitment: $475 million invested directly in Motional and $448 million to buy 11% of Aptiv’s common stock. The restructuring left Hyundai with approximately 85% of Motional’s common equity and Aptiv with 15%.
The financing came with painful conditions. Motional halted all commercial rides and deliveries, paused plans to launch its second-generation driverless service and cut about 550 employees, about 40% of its total workforce, at teams in Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, California and Massachusetts. t
The company pivoted to focus exclusively on improving its underlying autonomous technology, including a shift toward a more neural network-driven approach to autonomy, before attempting any new commercial deployment.
Motional returned to fundraising in August 2025 with a $550 million Series B round led by Aptiv and joined by Hyundai and Nuance Investments, which increased its valuation to $6.5 billion. That capital, combined with technological reconstruction, underpins today’s relaunch.
A busy week for Uber’s autonomous ambitions
The Las Vegas launch is not a stand-alone announcement. That same week, Uber confirmed an agreement with Zoox, Amazon’s autonomous vehicle subsidiary, to deploy Zoox’s purpose-built robotaxis on the Uber platform, initially in Las Vegas starting in summer 2026, followed by Los Angeles in mid-2027.
Uber and Wayve also announced a collaboration with Nissan in a robotaxi driver in Tokyoscheduled for late 2026, which would be Uber’s first autonomous vehicle partnership in Japan.
Uber says it is currently working with more than 25 autonomous vehicle partners across its Mobility, Delivery and Transportation divisions. The company announced in early 2026 that it plans to invest more than $100 million in charging infrastructure for autonomous vehicles.
Its autonomous solutions division, launched in February 2026 under Maredia, focuses on helping AV technology companies get their deployments to market faster by providing demand generation, user experience, customer support and fleet management services.
For Motional, the Las Vegas service is both a testing point and a pressure test. The company’s technology, rebuilt and retrained in the background since 2024, now faces its first sustained real-world commercial deployment with paying passengers.
