Hyundai Motor Co. is diving into the robotaxi business with Texas-based startup Avride. Hyundai and Avride’s autonomous ride-hailing service will roll out in Texas later this year.

The South Korean automaker and its new partner plan to develop driverless robotaxis based on the all-electric Hyundai IONIQ 5 SUV. Last year, Hyundai’s IONIQ 5 passed a US driver’s license test. Hyundai’s robotaxi is a Level 4 autonomous vehicle certified by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).

The legacy automaker will assemble IONIQ 5 robotaxi vehicles at its new Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA) in Georgia. After assembly, the Hyundai robotaxis will be integrated with Avride’s autonomous driving technology.

“This new agreement with Hyundai Motor will help us scale our operations significantly, with plans to expand our fleet to up to 100 autonomous IONIQ 5’s in 2025, leveraging Hyundai Motor’s IONIQ 5 and our autonomous driving technology,” Dmitry Polishchuk, CEO of Avride, said in a press release.

Hyundai’s IONIQ 5 robotaxis will roll out later this year in Dallas as part of Avride’s robotaxi service. Customers may catch a ride in one of the driverless Hyundai IONIQ 5 vehicles through the Uber app.

Texans will see quite a few autonomous robotaxis on the road this year. While Hyundai’s robotaxis hit the road in Dallas, Tesla will launch “unsupervised full self-driving as a paid service in Austin in June,” according to Elon Musk’s statement in the last TSLA earnings call.

Tesla has chosen the location of its latest manufacturing project, a facility that will churn out the Megapack, a large-scale energy storage system for solar energy projects. It has chosen Waller County, Texas, as the location of the new plant, according to a Commissioners Court meeting that occurred on Wednesday, March 5.

Around midday, members of the Waller County Commissioners Court approved a tax abatement agreement that will bring Tesla to its area, along with an estimated 1,500 jobs. The plant will be located at the Empire West Industrial Park in the Brookshire part of town.

Brookshire also plans to consider a tax abatement for Tesla at its meeting next Thursday.

The project will see a one million square-foot building make way for Tesla to build Megapack battery storage units, according to Covering Katy News, which first reported on the company’s intention to build a plant for its energy product.

CEO Elon Musk confirmed on the company’s Q4 2024 Earnings Call in late January that it had officially started building its third Megapack plant, but did not disclose any location:

“So, we have our second factory, which is in Shanghai, that’s starting operation, and we’re building a third factory. So, we’re trying to ramp output of the stationary battery storage as quickly as possible.”

Tesla plans third Megafactory after breaking energy records in 2024

The Megapack has been a high-demand item as more energy storage projects have started developing. Across the globe, regions are looking for ways to avert the loss of power in the event of a natural disaster or simple power outage.

This is where Megapack comes in, as it stores energy and keeps the lights on when the main grid is unable to provide electricity.

Vince Yokom of the Waller County Economic Development Partnership, commented on Tesla’s planned Megapack facility:

“I want to thank Tesla for investing in Waller County and Brookshire. This will be a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for their Megapack product. It is a powerful battery unit that provides energy storage and support to help stabilize the grid and prevent outages.”

Tesla has had a lease on the building where it will manufacture the Megapacks since October 2021. However, it was occupied by a third-party logistics company that handled the company’s car parts.

A federal judge has rejected Elon Musk’s push to block OpenAI’s for-profit conversion. The judge, however, opened the door for an expedited trial on Musk’s core claims against the artificial intelligence startup.

Injunction Denied, but Core Case Advances

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled on Tuesday that “Musk has not demonstrated likelihood of success on the merits” in his request for a preliminary injunction.” The judge flagged Musk’s recent $97.4 billion bid to buy OpenAI’s nonprofit as undermining his “claim of irreparable harm.”

Judge Gonzales Rogers did offer to hold a trial in her California courtroom as early as this fall “given the public interest at stake and potential for harm if a conversion contrary to law occurred,” as noted in a report from the Associated Press. This effectively keeps Musk’s core allegations alive, including breach of contract tied to OpenAI’s nonprofit roots. 

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Musk, who invested $45 million in OpenAI from its founding until 2018, alleged that the firm violated its founding mission when it shifted its efforts into becoming a for-profit company.

Judge Gonzales Rogers, for her part, had previously questioned why the Tesla and SpaceX CEO invested tens of millions in OpenAI without a written contract. “That is just a lot of money” to invest “on a handshake,” the judge previously noted.

What They’re Saying

OpenAI has welcomed the court’s decision. The artificial intelligence startup stated that, “This has always been about competition. Elon’s own emails show that he wanted to merge a for-profit OpenAI into Tesla. That would have been great for his personal benefit, but not for our mission or U.S. interests.”

Elon Musk lawyer Marc Toberoff also noted that he is pleased about the judge’s decision to offer an expedited trial on the lawsuit’s core claims. “We look forward to a jury confirming that Altman accepted Musk’s charitable contributions, knowing full well they had to be used for the public’s benefit rather than his own enrichment,” the lawyer stated.