内容来源：https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/11/motional-puts-ai-at-center-of-robotaxi-reboot-as-it-targets-2026-for-driverless-service/

内容总结：

【科技新闻】自动驾驶企业Motional战略转型，押注AI大模型重塑未来

历经近两年的内部震荡与行业变局，由现代汽车集团与安波福合资成立的自动驾驶公司Motional近日宣布全面调整技术路线，转向以AI基础模型为核心的研发策略，并计划于2026年底前在拉斯维加斯推出商业化无人驾驶出租车服务。

此前，该公司曾面临多重挑战：与Lyft合作的无人大规模服务未能如期落地，主要投资方安波福退出，导致现代汽车追加10亿美元注资以维持运营。2024年5月，公司裁员40%，员工总数从峰值约1400人缩减至不足600人。与此同时，人工智能技术的快速发展正深刻改变自动驾驶行业的研发逻辑。

Motional总裁兼首席执行官劳拉·梅杰坦言，公司虽已拥有安全的无人驾驶系统，但在实现低成本、可规模化推广的解决方案上仍存在差距。“我们做出了艰难的决定——暂停商业活动，以短期减速换取长期加速。”

技术路线的转变意味着从传统机器人控制模式转向基于AI大模型的端到端架构。公司保留了部分独立机器学习模型供开发者使用，形成“双轨并行”的研发体系。梅杰指出，新架构能更高效地适应不同城市的路况与交通环境，显著降低跨区域部署成本。

在拉斯维加斯进行的30分钟公开试乘中，搭载新系统的现代IONIQ 5成功完成了从主干道驶入酒店接送区的复杂操作，期间自主应对了临时停靠车辆、密集人流等场景。值得注意的是，此前该公司与Lyft合作的服务始终需要安全员在特定区域接管车辆，而新系统目标是在今年内彻底取消车内安全员。

尽管演示过程中系统对双排停靠的快递车辆反应稍显迟缓，且车内交互界面仍在完善，梅杰强调公司已找到安全与成本平衡的发展路径。她透露，现代汽车作为主要股东将持续支持长期战略，并展望未来将L4级自动驾驶技术从机器人出租车延伸至个人汽车领域。

行业观察人士指出，Motional的转型折射出全球自动驾驶行业正从硬件驱动向数据智能驱动深刻演进，其AI优先战略能否在2026年时间窗口前实现商业化突破，仍待市场检验。

中文翻译：

近两年前，自动驾驶公司Motional曾站在发展的十字路口。这家由现代汽车集团与安波福共同出资40亿美元成立的合资企业，不仅错过了与合作伙伴Lyft共同推出无人驾驶出租车服务的最后期限，还失去了安波福这一重要资金支持方。为此现代汽车不得不追加10亿美元投资以维持其运营。经历多轮裁员（包括2024年5月40%的结构性裁员）后，公司员工规模从巅峰时期的1400人缩减至不足600人。与此同时，人工智能技术的突飞猛进正在彻底改变工程师研发自动驾驶技术的方式。

Motional面临着不进则退的生死抉择。公司最终暂停所有业务，选择了变革求生之路。

Motional向TechCrunch透露，公司已重启机器人出租车计划，采用"AI优先"策略重构自动驾驶系统，并承诺在2026年底前在拉斯维加斯推出商业化无人驾驶服务。目前公司已面向员工开放配备人类安全员的机器人出租车服务，计划今年晚些时候与某未公开的网约车平台合作向公众推出该服务（Motional与Lyft和Uber已有合作基础）。公司表示，年底前将取消车内安全员，启动真正的商业化无人驾驶服务。

"我们看到人工智能领域的巨大发展潜力，同时也意识到虽然已拥有安全的无人驾驶系统，但要实现成本可控、具备全球泛化能力的解决方案仍存在差距，"Motional总裁兼首席执行官劳拉·梅杰在公司拉斯维加斯基地的发布会上表示，"因此我们做出了艰难决定：暂停商业活动，以短期减速换取长期加速。"

这意味着从经典机器人技术路线转向基于AI基础模型的研发路径。Motional从未脱离人工智能技术——其自动驾驶系统本就运用机器学习模型处理感知、追踪和语义推理，但在软件栈的其他环节仍依赖基于规则的编程。梅杰指出，分散的机器学习模型导致系统形成了复杂的软件网络。

与此同时，原本为语言处理构建的AI模型开始应用于机器人等实体AI系统，自动驾驶领域也迎来变革。Transformer架构使构建大型复杂AI模型成为可能，最终催生了ChatGPT的横空出世及其应用的爆发式增长。

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Motional正探索将这些分散模型整合为统一架构的方法，构建端到端系统。公司同时保留了供开发者使用的小型模型，梅杰称这种"双轨并行"策略实现了优势互补。

"这对实现两大目标至关重要：一是更轻松地适应新城市、新环境和新场景；二是以成本最优化的方式推进部署，"她解释道，"比如不同城市的交通信号灯可能存在差异，但无需重新开发或分析系统，只需收集数据训练模型，就能确保在新城市安全运行。"

在拉斯维加斯进行的30分钟自动驾驶体验中，TechCrunch记者实地考察了Motional的新技术方案。单次演示虽不能全面评估系统性能，却能清晰展现其与前代技术的差异与进步。

当搭载新系统的现代艾尼氪5驶离拉斯维加斯大道，自主进入Aria酒店接送客区时，技术进步显而易见。这片繁华区域向来以复杂路况闻名——自动驾驶车辆缓缓绕过停靠的出租车和下车乘客，多次变道穿梭于数十名行人、大型花坛和车流之间，整个过程与记者过往的拉斯维加斯体验如出一辙。

此前Motional与Lyft在拉斯维加斯运营的网约车服务仅能处理部分路段的自动驾驶，停车场、酒店代客泊车区和网约车接送点始终需要人类安全员接管方向盘。

系统仍有提升空间：车内乘客界面的图形显示仍在开发中；演示过程中虽未出现人工接管情况，但车辆在绕过并排停放的亚马逊送货货车时仍显得格外谨慎。

梅杰坚信公司正走在安全与成本效益兼顾的正确道路上，并强调大股东现代汽车已做好长期投入的准备。"我认为所有厂商的终极愿景，是将L4级自动驾驶技术融入个人汽车，"她提及这个意味着完全无需人工干预的技术等级时表示，"机器人出租车只是第一站，虽已影响深远，但最终所有整车厂都渴望将这项技术整合进他们的汽车。"

英文来源：

Nearly two years ago, Motional was at an autonomous vehicle crossroads.
The company, born from a $4 billion joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv, had already missed a deadline to launch a driverless robotaxi service with partner Lyft. It had lost Aptiv as one of its financial backers, prompting Hyundai to step up with another $1 billion investment to keep it going. Several layoffs, including a 40% restructuring cut in May 2024, had whittled the company from its peak of about 1,400 employees to less than 600. Meanwhile, advancements in AI were changing how engineers were developing the technology.
Motional was going to have to evolve or die. It paused everything and picked option No. 1.
Motional told TechCrunch it has rebooted its robotaxi plans with an AI-first approach to its self-driving system and a promise to launch a commercial driverless service in Las Vegas by the end of 2026. The company has already opened up a robotaxi service — with a human safety operator behind the wheel — to its employees. It plans to offer that service to the public with an unnamed ride-hailing partner later this year. (Motional has existing relationships with Lyft and Uber.) By the end of the year, the human safety operator will be pulled from the robotaxis and a true commercial driverless service will begin, the company said.
“We saw that there was tremendous potential with all the advancements that were happening within AI; and we also saw that while we had a safe, driverless system, there was a gap to getting to an affordable solution that could generalize and scale globally,” Motional president and CEO Laura Major said during a presentation at the company’s Las Vegas facilities. “And so we made the very hard decision to pause our commercial activities, to slow down in the near term so that we could speed up.”
This meant shifting away from its classic robotics approach to an AI foundation model-based one. Motional was never devoid of AI. Motional’s self-driving system used individual machine learning models to handle perception, tracking, and semantic reasoning. But it also used more rules-based programs for other operations within the software stack. And the individual ML models made it a complex web of software, Major said.
Meanwhile, AI models originally built for language began to be applied in robots and other physical AI systems, including the development of autonomous driving. That transformer architecture made it possible to build large and complex AI models, ultimately leading to the emergence, and skyrocketing use, of ChatGPT.
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Motional searched for ways to combine these smaller models and integrate them into a single backbone, allowing for an end-to-end architecture. It has also maintained the smaller models for developers, which Major explained gives Motional the best of both worlds.
“This is really critical for two things; One is for generalizing more easily to new cities, new environments, new scenarios,” she said. “And the other is to do this in a cost optimized way. So for example, the traffic lights might be different in the next city you go to, but you don’t have to redevelop or re-analyze those. You just collect some data, train the model, and it’s capable of operating safely in that new city.”
TechCrunch got a first-hand look at Motional’s new approach during a 30-minute autonomous drive around Las Vegas. One demo can’t provide an accurate assessment of a self-driving system. It can, however, pinpoint weaknesses and differences from previous iterations, and gauge progress.
Progress is what I saw as the Hyundai Ioniq 5 I rode in autonomously navigated its way off Las Vegas Boulevard and into the pickup and drop-off area of the Aria Hotel. These bustling areas are notorious in La Vegas and my experience was no different as the autonomous vehicle slowly nudged its way around a stopped taxi and unloading passengers, changed lanes, then back again, passing dozens of people, giant flower pots, and cars along the way.
Motional previously operated a ride-hailing service in Las Vegas with partner Lyft using vehicles that would autonomously handle portions of a ride. Parking lots and hotel valet and app ride pickup areas were never part of those operations. A human safety operator, always behind the wheel, would take over to navigate parking lots or the busy pickup and drop-off points of hotel lobbies.
There is still more progress to be made. The graphics displayed to riders within the vehicle are still under development. And while there was never a disengagement during my demo ride — which means the human safety operator takes over — the vehicle did take its time to nudge itself around a double parked Amazon delivery van.
Still, Major argues Motional is on the right path to deploy safely and cost effectively. And its majority owner Hyundai is in it for the long haul, she said.
“I think the real long-term vision, you know, for all of this, is putting Level 4 on people’s personal cars,” Major said, referring to a term that mean the system handles all driving with no expectation of human intervention. “Robotaxis, that’s stop number one, and huge impact. But ultimately, I think any OEM would love to also integrate that into their cars.”