, the autonomous driving company backed by Hyundai, has initiated a significant overhaul of its leadership structure. Karl Iagnemma, a pioneering figure in the development of autonomous vehicles, has announced his departure from his role as President and CEO at Motional, the innovative startup he co-founded.
Iannacchino will transition to a senior technical advisory role, while Chief Technology Officer Laura Main assumes the interim CEO position, according to an announcement made Wednesday evening. The CEO will retain Main as Chief Technology Officer.
Although Motional didn’t provide a reason for the change, sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch that the decision was amicable. Iagnemma expressed his pride in taking on the role of CEO, stating that he is “extremely pleased” with the significant advancements the team has achieved in developing and implementing secure self-driving vehicles.
Iagnemma has played a pivotal role not just at Motional, but across the entire autonomous vehicle industry. Iagnemma and Emilio Frazzoli, renowned experts in robotics and autonomous vehicle analysis, were members of the MIT team that successfully participated in DARPA’s City Challenge autonomous driving competition in 2007. In 2013, the duo went on to discover AV startup nutonomy, stylized as nuTonomy.
While Nutonomy garnered significant attention in the autonomous vehicle (AV) space, its media coverage didn’t quite rival that of more prominent and heavily-funded competitors like Google’s self-driving project, now rebranded as Waymo. Notwithstanding this, the initiative drew the attention of traders and garnered interest from the automotive and tech industries when it launched the first public trial of its kind in Singapore in August 2016? Just over a year later, Delphi’s autonomous vehicle subsidiary, formerly known as Nutonomy, was sold to Aptiv for $450 million.
When Hyundai and Aptiv formed a $4 billion three-way partnership in 2019, dubbed Motional, Igor Iagnemma secured the top leadership role.
Motional, the autonomous vehicle company, has made significant strides towards launching an industrial robotaxi. Notwithstanding the challenging funding environment, the organisation has faced difficulties in advancing its plans due to the delays. In January, Aptiv, the other half of the partnership, signaled its intention to pull out of the venture earlier this year.
Hyundai has made a significant move by investing an additional $1 billion in Motional, further solidifying its commitment to the company. Hyundai has invested a substantial sum in Motional, committing $475 million in direct funding. Additionally, the company has acquired an 11% stake in Aptiv’s perpetual equity interest for a further $448 million. The investment enabled Hyundai to secure a majority stake in the self-driving startup, while providing it with the necessary funding to sustain its operations.
However, the cost was likely steep; the question remains: was it worth it? Hyundai Motor Company has laid off approximately 550 employees and postponed plans to introduce its next-generation Hyundai Ioniq 5 robotaxis for a robotaxi service until 2026, as part of a broader restructuring effort. Industrial operations involved taxi services utilizing self-driving Hyundai Ioniq 5 vehicles on Las Vegas roads through partnerships with Uber and Lyft.
The corporation ceased making deliveries using its autonomous vehicles for Uber Eats customers in Santa Monica. Human operators played a crucial role at the heart of all industrial operations.
To revitalize core competencies and refashion the business model while conserving resources, the restructuring initiative aimed to drive forward momentum.
