Waymo in talks with Hyundai to manufacture self-driving taxis

South Korean newspaper Electronic Times reported that Alphabet’s Waymo is in talks with Hyundai Motor to outsource the production of self-driving cars. The talks, which have taken several sessions, regards the use of Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 electric cars for Waymo’s sixth-generation AV technology. The plan may also entail the substitution of the existing cars from Zeekr, a Chinese player, with the Ioniq 5 models.

This comes after the Biden led administration recently announced high tariffs increase of specific imports from China including a 100% tariff on Electric vehicles which is due on the 27th of September. Regarding the message in the media, Waymo replied: We will not address rumor and speculation here, but I do want to provide you with the following clarification: We are indeed working to prove out the 6th gen Waymo Driver on the Zeekr platform and currently plan to integrate it into our fleet in due course.

The Geely Automobile Holdings electric vehicle brand Zeekr has parenthesized the speculation by stating that there is “no change to Zeekr’s partnership with Waymo,” both the companies are quite involved in the actual processes of putting vehicles into the field. Hyundai Motor Group also clarified that “there is no fixed plan regarding new businesses at this point,” especially as it is still in the process of considering the sale of automobile platforms for self-driving technology companies.

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In the first half of this year, Motional, the joint self-driving affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, delayed the launch of a robotaxi service based on the second-generation Ioniq 5 to 2026 due to massive layoffs in the United States.

Previously, Waymo worked with other car manufacturers like Stellantis and Jaguar Land Rover and incorporated Waymo tech into their cars for self-driving ride-hailing services in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The company is already using cars from Zeekr to pilot its next-generation self-driving technology.

Alphabet back in July unveiled a large investment of 5 billion dollars in Waymo that is required to advance its linked autonomy car business and enhance its self-driving systems.