Las Vegas Becomes Motional’s Robotaxi Proving Ground

[madtrader]

Motional plans to launch a fully driverless commercial robotaxi service in Las Vegas by the end of 2026. The company has already opened a robotaxi program with human safety operators to employees and plans to expand to the public later this year with a ride-hailing partner, potentially including Lyft or Uber.

Unlike its earlier pilots, the new system is designed to handle complex environments such as hotel pickup zones and parking areas without human intervention. Motional says removing the safety driver by year-end will mark the start of true commercial driverless operations — a major milestone it previously couldn’t reach.

[chainsniff]

vegas feels like the default testing ground for robotaxis at this point