Motional Autonomy Roulette on Uber in Las Vegas Field Report
Filed By: David Moss on October 1, 2026
Field Verified
Key Motional Las Vegas Field Report Findings
How does Motional’s driving compare to Waymo and Zoox in Las Vegas?
Across two rides between Resorts World Las Vegas and Fremont Street, the Motional IONIQ 5 was smooth, stopped cleanly for pedestrians, and had no issues. According to David Moss, it was the smoothest ride of the three services operating in Sin City.
Can you reliably get a Motional ride on Uber?
No. After playing autonomy roulette, it took David Moss ten cancellations to get the first ride and roughly another ten attempts to get the return ride
What still needs work?
Three items, none of them about the driving. A safety supervisor remains in the front seat for now, and Motional has announced testing without one in small areas. The trunk mounted compute produces audible noise in the back seat. Riders do not yet have control over in-cabin media. Address those alongside the Uber dispatch issues and Motional has a service that competes on experience, not just on driving.
Motional Autonomy Roulette Las Vegas Field Report
Special Field Correspondent David Moss headed to Las Vegas to play autonomy roulette on Uber when he was trying to get paired with a Motional robotaxi. It took ten spins on the autonomy roulette wheel to finally get paired with a Motional vehicle on Uber.
The Motional robotaxi today is Supervised with plans to go Unsupervised by the end of the year. The vehicle itself is manufactured on the line at the Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center Singapore (HMGICS) with no retrofit or upfitting required.
Ordering a Motional on Uber
Ordering was the pain point. It took ten cancellations to get the first ride from the Resorts World Las Vegas pickup zone, and roughly another ten attempts to get the return ride from Fremont Street.
On the return, the pickup spot moved in the app and the vehicle came back to the drop off location, with a three minute wait once the ride was accepted.
Motional Robotaxi
The Singapore built Motional IONIQ 5 robotaxi has LiDAR all the way around, radars in the rear, a unique bumper, and a large roof dome with the Motional logo in the middle. Compute is in the trunk, and it is raised up enough to see from the outside when looking through the back window.
Motional Safety Supervisor
A safety supervisor sits in the front seat. On both rides the supervisor welcomed the rider, explained that they would remain silent for the duration of the trip while monitoring the systems, and told the rider to press start once buckled.
Motional Robotaxi Ride
The Motional ride was smooth with clean stops for pedestrians crossing the street, and no issues on either leg between the Strip and downtown. The vehicle announced arrival, asked the rider to remain seated and buckled until parked, and reminded the rider to take all belongings.
Motional Outlook
As Motional scales in Las Vegas, pay attention to when the company removes the safety supervisor, how it addresses the compute noise, and if and when Uber launches a dedicated robotaxi tier inside the app.
The future is bright. The future is autonomous. The future is field reports.
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