California-based Waymo is integrating its autonomous driving technology into Hyundai’s all-electric Ioniq 5 SUV.

South Korean car maker Hyundai and Waymo have entered a multi-year partnership that will see Waymo’s sixth-generation fully autonomous technology – the Waymo Driver – in Hyundai’s all-electric Ioniq 5 SUV. This will be added to the Waymo One fleet over time.

The Ioniq 5 vehicles for the Waymo fleet will be assembled at the new Hyundai Metaplant America EV manufacturing facility in Georgia and then integrated with Waymo’s autonomous technology. The companies plan to produce a fleet of Ioniq 5s equipped with Waymo’s technology in significant volume over multiple years to support Waymo One’s growing scale.

Initial on-road testing with Waymo-enabled Ioniq 5s will begin by late 2025 and become available to Waymo One riders in the years to follow.

“We are thrilled to partner with Hyundai as we further our mission to be the world’s most trusted driver,” said Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO of Waymo. “Hyundai’s focus on sustainability and strong electric vehicle roadmap makes them a great partner for us as we bring our fully autonomous service to more riders in more places.”

José Muñoz, CEO of Hyundai in North America, added: “Hyundai and Waymo share a vision to improve the safety, efficiency and convenience of how people move. Waymo’s transformational technology is improving road safety where they operate, and the Ioniq 5 is the ideal vehicle to scale this further. The team at our new manufacturing facility is ready to allocate a significant number of vehicles for the Waymo One fleet as it continues to expand. Importantly, this is the first step in the partnership between the two companies and we are actively exploring additional opportunities for collaboration.”

The Ioniq 5 will be delivered to Waymo with specific autonomous-ready modifications such as redundant hardware and power doors. The all-electric vehicle will enable long driving shifts on a single charge, and its 800V architecture will reduce time out of service with some of the industry’s fastest charging speeds available. The car’s spacious interior has plenty of legroom, headroom and rear cargo space for a comfortable rider experience.

“We recently announced the launch of Hyundai’s autonomous vehicle foundry business to provide global autonomous driving companies with vehicles capable of implementing SAE level four or higher autonomous driving technology,” said Chang Song, head of Hyundai’s advanced vehicle platform division. “There is no better partner for our first agreement in this initiative than industry-leader Waymo.”

Since its beginnings as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo (www.waymo.com) has been focused on building, deploying and commercialising its Driver technology to improve access to mobility while saving thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes. To date, Waymo has autonomously driven tens of millions of kilometres on public roads and tens of billions of kilometres in simulation across 13 US states.

Established in 1967, Hyundai (www.hyundai.com) is present in over 200 countries with more than 120,000 employees.