Irvine will serve as the hub for an on-demand ridesharing pilot testing a fleet of autonomous Hyundai Konas.
Hyundai Motor Co., with regional headquarters in Fountain Valley, said it worked with Pony.ai and Via on the on-demand program, dubbed BotRide. The service uses the Hyundai Kona electric sport utility vehicle guided with software from Pony.ai. The ridesharing app and related technology was created by Via.
“The goal is to study consumer behavior in an autonomous ride-sharing environment,” said Christopher Chang, who heads up Hyundai Motor Co.’s business development, strategy and technology division, in a statement.
The pilot will be free and begins Nov. 4.
For more on automakers in OC, including new models from Hyundai, see the Oct. 21 print edition of the Business Journal.
