Hyundai Motor America, in partnership with Pony.ai and Via, is offering a free ride-sharing service called BotRide by providing residents of Irvine, California with a fleet of self-driving Hyundai KONA Electric SUVs starting on Nov. 4.
BotRide will run until Jan. 31, 2020 as part of the pilot phase of the program.
"The pilot phase introduces BotRide to several hundred Irvine residents, including college students," Christopher Chang, head of the Business Development, Strategy and Technology Division at Hyundai Motor Company, said in a press release. "The goal is to study consumer behavior in an autonomous ride-sharing environment. We are going to learn about ecosystems, where the vehicles travel and optimize the customer experience. BotRide is another example of Hyundai's ongoing efforts to actively build expertise in mobility technology as well as the company's commitment to providing more user-friendly mobility services to customers."
Commuters can hail an autonomous Hyundai KONA Electric SUV via the BotRide app, which will be available both on iOS and Android.
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