Waymo’s next robot will be the Hyundai IONIQ 5

Waymo has struck a deal with Hyundai to bring the IONIQ 5 EV to its robotics network, adding another autonomous vehicle option as it expands its business.

The autonomous vehicle company announced Friday that it expects to begin road testing of the Waymo-equipped IONIQ 5 in late 2025, and the AV will be available to passengers “in the following years.” Chris Bonelli, a Waymo spokesman, declined to share the financials of the deal.

Hyundai will build the IONIQ 5s at a factory it’s about to open in Georgia, and Waymo will integrate its autonomous vehicle technology into vehicles at a separate facility. Waymo said it expects to produce a “high volume” of Hyundai’s autonomous IONIQ 5s. Bonelli declined to say how many, and said the IONIQ 5 doesn’t directly replace any cars it currently uses or plans to use.

The addition of the IONIQ 5 to Waymo’s fleet will help the company handle collisions with the vehicles it uses in its growing network of robots. Although it started with Chrysler Pacifica hybrid vans, it has also released those. Waymo currently relies on aging Jaguar I-Pace SUVs. The company is currently testing autonomous utility vans made by China’s Zeekr in San Francisco, though that vehicle could run into tax trouble.

Waymo is also expanding how people can rate its AVs. Just last month, Uber announced that it would make Waymo AVs available on its ride-hailing network in Austin and Atlanta next year.

The partnership with Waymo comes at an important time for Hyundai. It spent years and billions of dollars creating an automotive joint venture called Motional with automotive supplier Aptiv. But Aptiv pulled out of Motional earlier this year, leaving Hyundai to step in and plug the funding hole. Motional has since gone through a major restructuring that resulted in hundreds of layoffs, and CEO Karl Iagnemma stepped down in September.

A separate autonomous version of the IONIQ 5 is also currently being tested with the Yandex spinout Avride which will eventually be available on the Uber ride-hail network.