Waymo May Use Hyundai IONIQ 5 Next – CleanTechnica

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We’ve been waiting for Waymo’s Zeekr next-gen robotaxis for a while now. And it’s a beautiful combo. I use images of Zeekr Waymo robotaxis every chance I get. Here’s another pair:

Waymo Zeekr concept robotaxi. Image courtesy of Waymo.

The problem is that Zeekr is a Chinese EV company, and Chinese EV companies are facing extreme blockage in the US, including 100% tariffs. Waymo is reportedly working on a way around this, but it doesn’t seem to be getting the TSA PreCheck treatment. In the meantime …

There’s now a rumor out of Reuters that Waymo may buy Hyundai IONIQ 5 vehicles for its next-gen Waymo Driver robotaxis. I wouldn’t hate that. The IONIQ 5 is one of the coolest looking cars on the road, it and the Kia EV6 would be my top two choices if I was going to buy an EV tomorrow, and it’s got a very sci-fi look that matches the role of a robotaxi. Also, without a doubt, we can count on Hyundai having the ability to scale up production as needed.

Waymo and Hyundai staff have reportedly met three times about this potential deal. And the reporting indicates that the IONIQ 5 could be selected instead of the Zeekr model. Waymo seems to disagree, though. The company provided this statement to Reuters:

“We’ll decline to comment on speculation, but I can share that we are hard at work validating the 6th-generation Waymo Driver on the Zeekr platform and intend to introduce it into our fleet when ready.”

Zeekr also comment:

“There is no change to Zeekr’s partnership with Waymo [and they are] actively working together to deploy the vehicles.”

Hmm….

Maybe Waymo is planning to use vehicles from both companies, and use the diversity of models or options as security against any disruptions caused by tariffs, or blocked imports. Always good to bake in a little risk aversion.

We shall see. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures of the Hyundai IONIQ 5 without the Waymo branding and just picture it with a Waymo wrap or paint job: