Motional puts AI at center of robotaxi reboot as it targets 2026 for driverless service

Motional, a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv, has rebooted its autonomous robotaxi program with a new AI-first strategy, targeting a fully driverless commercial service launch in Las Vegas by the end of 2026. After missing earlier deadlines and undergoing significant layoffs that reduced its workforce from about 1,400 to under 600 employees, the company shifted from a traditional robotics approach to integrating large-scale AI models inspired by advances in transformer architectures, similar to those behind ChatGPT. This transition aims to create a more generalized, scalable, and cost-effective self-driving system capable of adapting to new cities and environments without extensive redevelopment. Previously, Motional’s system relied on multiple individual machine learning models combined with rule-based software, resulting in a complex architecture. The new approach consolidates these smaller models into a single backbone while retaining them for developer use, enhancing flexibility and efficiency. Motional has already launched a robotaxi service with human safety operators for employees and plans to extend this to the