April 30, 2026 - Magna to Upfit Hyundai Ioniq 5 for Waymo

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for April 21, 2026, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.

Waymo is currently in the final stages of validating the newest version 6 of its automated driving system. This testing is occurring across a range of cities in the U.S., including San Francisco, Denver, and Detroit, among others. Most of the testing is occurring on the Zeekr-built Ojai robotaxi, although Waymo is also using the Hyundai Ioniq 5. Waymo has nearly completed the upfitting of the last of the Jaguar i-Pace vehicles that will be joining its robotaxi fleet this year. Waymo purchased the last 2,000 Jaguars that were produced before production ended at the end of 2024. That work is ongoing at a facility operated by Magna near Phoenix, Arizona. 

Once the validation of the Waymo Driver V6 and the Ojai is completed in the coming months, Waymo plans to start deploying the Ojai into its commercial fleets. Waymo is targeting service in 20 cities across the U.S. by the end of 2026. After the Ojai, Waymo plans to add the Hyundai Ioniq 5. The Ioniq 5 is already being used by Motional in Las Vegas. For Waymo, the vehicles will be produced at Hyundai's newest factory near Savannah, Georgia, along with consumer versions of the car and the Ioniq 9 SUV. Hyundai will ship the mostly complete Ioniq 5 to a Magna-operated facility where the cars will be upfitted with the same V6 Driver system used on the Zeekr Ojai. The upfitting process includes adding a rooftop tiara with lidar, radar, cameras, and microphones, as well as additional sensors on the front and rear bumpers and front fenders. Hyundai plans to start shipping vehicles for Waymo in the fourth quarter of 2026, with a current order of 50,000 units from Waymo over the next several years. 

Thanks for listening.