Hyundai Motor is ramping up its autonomous driving capabilities in the United States, partnering with Texas-based startup Avride to co-develop and operate fully self-driving vehicles.

According to Avride on Thursday, the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding to leverage Hyundai Motor’s electric vehicle platform technology with its flagship EV Ioniq 5 and Avride’s autonomous driving technology to advance future mobility such as robotaxis and autonomous delivery services.

Avride has already been using Hyundai Motor cars, including the Sonata and Ioniq 5, as platforms for its autonomous driving technology. The US firm said the expanded partnership will focus on enabling the deployment of autonomous vehicles equipped with Avride’s driving system.

“This new agreement with Hyundai Motor Company will help us scale our operations significantly, with plans to expand our fleet to up to 100 autonomous Ioniq 5s in 2025, leveraging Hyundai Motor’s Ioniq 5 and our autonomous driving technology,” said Dmitry Polishchuk, CEO of Avride.

The Ioniq 5 vehicles for Avride’s fleet will be assembled at the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Georgia. The collaborative vehicles are expected to be available later this year in Dallas as part of Avride’s robotaxi services for Uber.

“Hyundai Motor Company is actively advancing its autonomous vehicle foundry business in pursuit of pioneering vehicles most suitable for Level 4 autonomous driving,” said Song Chang-hyeon, head of Hyundai Motor Group’s advanced vehicle platform division.

“We are expanding our collaboration with leading autonomous driving tech companies like Avride, fostering an environment where their innovations can actively participate in our endeavor to shape the future of mobility.”

In October 2024, the Korean automaker joined hands with Google’s autonomous driving technology subsidiary Waymo to integrate the latter’s fully autonomous driving technology into the former’s Ioniq 5 as Hyundai aimed to strengthen its autonomous vehicle foundry business.

Avride was part of Russian firm Yandex's self-driving division. It separated from Yandex after the Russian firm's corporate restructuring last year.

Yandex previously partnered with Hyundai's automotive supply unit in 2019 to develop software and hardware systems for self-driving vehicles.

By Kan Hyeong-woo (hwkan@heraldcorp.com)