Waymo in talks with Hyundai Motor to produce self-driving taxis, media report says

SEOUL (Reuters) - Alphabet's Waymo is in talks with South Korea's Hyundai Motor to outsource manufacturing of its self-driving vehicles, South Korean newspaper, Electronic Times, reported.

Officials at Waymo and Hyundai Motor have met more than three times to discuss a plan to use Hyundai's Ioniq 5 electric vehicles for Waymo's sixth-generation self-driving technology, the report said, adding that the plan includes replacing offerings from China's Zeekr with the Ioniq 5 models.

The report came as President Joe Biden's administration last week locked in steep tariff hikes on Chinese imports, including a 100% duty on electric vehicles, which will take effect on Sept. 27.

Regarding the media report, Waymo said in a 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 said: "There is no change to Zeekr’s partnership with Waymo," adding that they are "actively working together to deploy the vehicles."

Hyundai Motor Group said: "nothing is determined at this stage about new businesses," referring to its plan to sell its vehicle platform to self-driving technology companies.

Motional, a self-driving technology unit of Hyundai Motor Group, earlier this year delayed plans to launch a robotaxi service with its next-generation Hyundai Ioniq 5 robotaxis until 2026 as it laid off hundreds of workers in the United States, TechCrunch reported in May.

Waymo has purchased vehicles from Stellantis and Jaguar Land Rover and integrated its technology into the base vehicles to offer autonomous ride-hailing services in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Waymo is also testing its next-generation self-driving car technology using vehicles from Zeekr, the electric car brand of China's Geely Automobile Holdings.

Alphabet said in July that it planned a $5 billion investment in Waymo over a multi-year period, as the company is expanding its autonomous ride-hailing service areas.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Heekyong Yang in Seoul, Abhirup Roy in San Francisco and Zoey Zang in Shanghai; Editing by Ed Davies)