I took a ride in Hyundai's new fully-autonomous robotaxi – and it’s surprisingly good at navigating the wild streets of Las Vegas

Stroll a parking lot in Las Vegas and you are bound to bump into a company on the brink of making a major autonomous driving breakthrough. Yet not many go on to survive the difficult early years and emerge out of the other side with a successful business.

Fortunately, this year’s CES 2026 was a backdrop for Hyundai and Motional to celebrate, as they dropped the silk sheet on the fruits of their partnership and announced that they plan to run a driverless service in Las Vegas later this year.

It hasn’t been an easy path though, with Motional (formerly a joint venture with automotive tech company Aptiv) pausing its operations in 2024 to take stock after six years of perfecting its autonomous recipe.