The development comes ahead of electric carmaker Tesla’s unveiling of its robotaxi, dubbed “Cybercab”, on Aug. 8 and as legacy automakers limit spending on expensive autonomous driving technology in the face of regulatory and safety hurdles.
“Large-scale driverless deployment will not happen overnight. Driverless vehicles will enter the market when the technology has evolved and – just as importantly – when the business case for autonomous deployment is clear,” CEO Karl Iagnemma said in a blog post. Lyft and Uber did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the pause of their partnerships with Motional.
Last month, OpenAI and Khosla Ventures-backed Ghost Autonomy said it was winding down operations, citing an uncertain path to long-term profitability.