Waymo in talks to buy 50,000 Hyundai IONIQ 5 EVs for robotaxi rollout

Waymo is reportedly negotiating to acquire roughly 50,000 Hyundai IONIQ 5 electric vehicles, a purchase pegged at about $2.5 billion. If finalized, this contract would represent a major fleet-scale move for Waymo and materially increase vehicle throughput for its robotaxi program.

Sources say the vehicles might arrive without the autonomous sensor stack that Waymo typically integrates, creating a potential retrofitting requirement for lidar, radar, and compute modules at a later stage. The reporting also flagged an implied price north of $50,000 per car, a figure that diverges from public retail pricing and suggests either special trim levels or bundled equipment in the procurement.

Discussions between the two companies date back to 2024, but the purchase remains unconfirmed and subject to change. Waymo's procurement history includes earlier electric models such as the Jaguar I-PACE and a bespoke Zeekr Ojai supply deal, indicating a strategy of pairing AV stacks with different EV platforms.

Operationally, a 50k-unit order would force rapid scaling of integration processes, spare-parts logistics, and service operations for added sensors and safety systems. It would also shift capital expenditure profiles: a large vehicle buy lowers per-unit platform cost but raises retrofit and validation spend for autonomous hardware and software harmonization.

For Hyundai, a multi-year supply agreement at this scale would smooth production planning and could justify dedicated assembly or supplier channels for AV-ready variants. For Waymo, access to a high-volume, commercially produced EV would accelerate network densification if the integration timeline aligns with regulatory approvals in target markets.

Key open items include final vehicle specification, whether the supplier price includes the sensor suite, certification timelines for modified vehicles, and how integration will affect unit economics for each robotaxi. The reported numbers create room for two scenarios: vehicles shipped as bare chassis requiring aftermarket sensor installs, or vehicles delivered with specialized hardware and higher factory pricing.