March 13 - Uber and Motional, the autonomous vehicle joint venture backed by Hyundai Motor, have begun offering a commercial robotaxi service in Las Vegas, expanding Uber’s bets on autonomous ride-hailing as it builds partnerships across the self-driving sector.
The service enables Uber users in specified areas of Las Vegas to hail an electric, driverless-capable vehicle via the Uber app without paying an extra fee, according to the companies. Riders requesting UberX, Uber Electric, Uber Comfort or Uber Comfort Electric may be matched with a Motional IONIQ 5 robotaxi, and passengers will have the option to switch to a conventional human-driven ride if they prefer.
Pick-up zones for the new robotaxi service run along Las Vegas Boulevard and include Resorts World, Encore at the Wynn, Westgate Resort & Casino, Downtown Las Vegas and Town Square near the airport. The vehicles being deployed are Motional’s IONIQ 5 models, which Uber says are among the first SAE Level 4-capable autonomous vehicles certified under the U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).
Operations will commence with a human safety operator seated behind the wheel. A transition to a fully driverless offering is anticipated by late 2026, the companies said, indicating a phased approach from supervised to unsupervised service.
The Las Vegas launch follows a pattern of alliances by Uber with multiple autonomous vehicle developers. Uber has already partnered with firms including Baidu, Amazon’s Zoox, Nissan and British startup Wayve. Earlier this week Uber signed a multi-year agreement to deploy Zoox’s robotaxis on its platform, with limited services already active in Las Vegas and a pilot rider program under way in San Francisco. Separately, Uber, Nissan and Wayve agreed to work together toward a pilot robotaxi rollout in Tokyo targeted for late 2026, marking Uber’s first autonomous vehicle collaboration in Japan.
Uber has also committed more than $100 million to build autonomous vehicle charging hubs as manufacturers and mobility platforms push to commercialize driverless transportation at scale. The investment underscores the infrastructure demands tied to deploying electric robotaxi fleets.
Context and next steps
The Las Vegas deployment places Motional’s IONIQ 5 units into consumer-facing service under Uber’s app-based marketplace while keeping human oversight in the near term. The companies have set expectations for a gradual removal of human supervision, targeting full driverless operation by late 2026.