SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Alphabet's

Waymo will add electric vehicles from South Korea's Hyundai

Motor ( HYMTF ) to its robotaxi fleet, the companies said on

Friday, as Waymo expands in the United States.

On-road testing for IONIQ 5 SUVs - assembled at Hyundai's

Georgia facility and equipped with Waymo's autonomous technology

- will begin by late 2025, they said.

Waymo has about 700 vehicles in its fleet and is the only

U.S. firm operating uncrewed robotaxis that collect fares.

The partnership with Hyundai comes days before Tesla

CEO Elon Musk is set to unveil plans for a robotaxi

product that is expected to use a custom-built vehicle. Musk may

also discuss plans for his company to run a ride-hailing

platform that will allow Tesla owners to list their vehicles

when not in use.

Waymo now uses I-PACE vehicles from Jaguar Land Rover, owned

by India's Tata Motors. Waymo is also testing its

technology using vehicles from Zeekr, the EV brand of

China's Geely. A spokesperson for Waymo said the Hyundai

partnership will not directly replace any of its current vehicle

platforms.

This year, Waymo opened its service to everyone in San

Francisco, without the need to join a waitlist, while expanding

its operations in metro Phoenix. It also extended services to

the San Francisco Peninsula and to certain parts of Los Angeles.

"The team at our new manufacturing facility is ready to

allocate a significant number of vehicles for the Waymo One

fleet as it continues to expand," Jose Munoz, global COO of

Hyundai Motor ( HYMTF ) said in a statement. "We are actively exploring

additional opportunities for collaboration."

Despite widespread skepticism, tight regulatory scrutiny and

federal investigations on AV technology, Alphabet said this year

it was planning a multi-year $5 billion investment in Waymo.

In August, Waymo said it had doubled its paid rides to

100,000 per week in just over three months as it expanded its

areas of service and allowed more people to ride its robotaxis.

Others in the race include General Motors' ( GM ) Cruise,

which is testing cars with human safety drivers after an

accident last year led it to pull all vehicles from the road,

and Amazon's ( AMZN ) Zoox, which is expanding testing for its

vehicles built without steering wheels and pedals.