Motional

American autonomous vehicle company

MotionalCompany type| Private

|

Industry| Automotive
Predecessors|

* Aptiv
* NuTonomy
* Ottomatika

Founded| 2020; 5 years ago (2020)
Headquarters|

Boston, Massachusetts

United States

Key people

| CEO Laura Major
Products| Autonomous vehicle technology
Website| www.motional.com

Motional is an American autonomous vehicle company founded in March 2020[1] as a joint venture between automaker Hyundai Motor Group and auto supplier Aptiv. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, Motional also maintains operations in Pittsburgh, Singapore, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. Motional began testing its newest generation of vehicles in Las Vegas, Nevada, in February 2021,[2][3] and also operates vehicles in Pittsburgh and Santa Monica, California.[4]

## Name

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'Motional' is a portmanteau of motion and emotional, with motion referring to the movement of self-driving cars and emotional expressing the willingness to realize the value of human respect.

## History

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Karl Iagnemma at the Collision conference in 2018

* 2013 - nuTonomy and Ottomatika, Inc. are established as spin-offs at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon University.
* 2015 - Delphi acquired Ottomatika[5]
* 2015 - Delphi demonstrates what they claim to be America's first fully autonomous transcontinental crossing.[5]
* 2016 - nuTonomy trial operated the world's first autonomous taxi in Singapore.
* 2017 - nuTonomy begins autonomous driving in Boston
* 2017 - Delphi acquired nuTonomy[6]
* 2017 - Delphi renamed as Aptiv[7]
* 2018 - Aptiv acquired NuTonomy and Ottomatika and formed an Autonomous Driving Team
* 2018 - First public robotaxi service tests in Las Vegas in collaboration with Lyft, with 50,000 rides in the first year[8]
* 2019 - Aptiv & Hyundai Motor Group officially announce an autonomous driving joint venture[9]
* 2020 - The establishment of Motional, an autonomous driving technology development joint venture[10]
* 2021 - Autonomous (SAE level 4) vehicle test drive successful on normal roads[2]
* 2022 - Motional and Lyft's public service is launched in Las Vegas using autonomous, all-electric Hyundai Ioniq 5 vehicles with a safety driver[11]
* 2022 - Motional and Lyft announced the planned launch of a fully driverless ride-hail service in Los Angeles[12][13]

Karl Iagnemma, founder of NuTonomy, was CEO of Motional. In September 2024 Karl stepped down as CEO of Motional.[14] Currently Laura Major is the President and CEO of Motional as of 2025.[15]

## Finances

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Motional is majority owned by Hyundai Motor Group. In 2024, Motional completed a $475M funding round with Hyundai.[citation needed]

## References

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1. ^ Hawkins, Andrew (11 August 2020). "Hyundai's autonomous vehicle project with Aptiv will now be called Motional". The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
2. ^ a b Bishop, Richard. "Motional Initiates Testing Of Driverless Vehicles In Las Vegas". Forbes. PARS International Corp. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
3. ^ AP. "Company testing fully driverless cars on Las Vegas streets". Houston Chronicle. Hearst Newspapers. Retrieved 23 February 2021.[permanent dead link]
4. ^ Brown, Dalvin (22 February 2021). "To the list of places testing driverless cars, add Las Vegas". Washington Post. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
5. ^ a b Stokes, Sherry; Walters, Ken. "Carnegie Mellon Spinoff Ottomatika Acquired by Delphi". Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
6. ^ Abuelsamid, Sam. "Delphi Acquires nuTonomy For $450M, Advancing Push For Automated Driving". Forbes. PARS International Corp. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
7. ^ "Delphi Technologies Set to Join S&P MidCap 400 and Frontier Communications to Join S&P SmallCap 600" (PDF). US: S&P Dow Jones Indices. 28 November 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
8. ^ Iagnemma, Karl (May 31, 2019). "One Year In: Aptiv Marks 50,000 Public Robotaxi Rides" (Press release). Aptiv. Retrieved 2022-11-27.
9. ^ Frangoul, Amour (September 24, 2019). "Hyundai and Aptiv to set up $4 billion autonomous driving joint venture". CNBC.
10. ^ "Introducing Motional: The Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv Autonomous Driving Joint Venture Unveils New Identity". 《PR Newswire》. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
11. ^ Hawkins, Andrew J. (2022-08-16). "Lyft and Motional's all-electric robotaxi service is now live in Las Vegas". The Verge. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
12. ^ "Motional and Lyft to Launch Driverless Ride-hail Service in Los Angeles" (Press release). Motional. November 17, 2022. Retrieved 2022-11-27.
13. ^ Sriram, Akash (November 17, 2022). "Lyft, Motional to launch robotaxi service in Los Angeles". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-11-27.
14. ^ Korosec, Kirsten (19 September 2024). "CEO of self-driving startup Motional is stepping down". Retrieved 24 September 2024.
15. ^ Laura Major, CEO of Motional, https://motional.com/laura-major

## External links

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* Official website