GM will join with Honda to develop a "purpose-built autonomous vehicle" for Cruise, GM's self-driving division. Honda will invest $2 billion over 12 years, with an additional $750 million invested in Cruise. Honda's equity investment raises Cruise's valuation to $14.6 billion.
GM
- GM will join with Honda to develop a "purpose-built autonomous vehicle" for Cruise, GM's self-driving division.
- Honda will invest $2 billion over 12 years, with an additional $750 million invested in Cruise.
- Honda's equity investment raises Cruise's valuation to $14.6 billion.
General Motors announced Wednesday that it has allied with Honda to pursue a shared self-driving future.
Honda will invest $2 billion over 12 years in the collaboration with GM's Cruise autonomous division, with an additional $750-million equity investment that brings Cruise's valuation to $14.6 billion.
GM acquired San Francisco-based Cruise in 2016 for an all-in price of $1 billion. A recent joint investment from GM and SoftBank took the unit's valuation to $11.5 billion.
The GM-Honda partnership will develop what the companies called a "purpose-built autonomous vehicle" for Cruise, intended to provide the carmakers with global scale and possible commercial applications. GM and Honda had previously announced a collaboration on battery development.
"This is the logical next step in General Motors and Hondaâ€
s relationship, given our joint work on electric vehicles, and our close integration with Cruise," GM CEO Mary Barra said in a statement.
"Together, we can provide Cruise with the worldâ€s best design, engineering and manufacturing expertise, and global reach to establish them as the leader in autonomous vehicle technology – while they move to deploy self-driving vehicles at scale."
Building a Cruise self-driving vehicle with Honda
GM and Cruise have focused on a fully-integrated hardware and software solution to the challenge of establishing an autonomous ride-hailing/sharing network that can operate in urban environments.
The deal has led to the rollout of a fully-integrated autonomous electric car — the tech is being built into Chevy Bolt electric vehicles — that is being fleet-tested in San Francisco, Detroit, and Phoenix, with New York City scheduled to follow this year.
Commercialization, according to GM's president, Dan Ammann, and Cruise's CEO, Kyle Vogt, will arrive in 2019.
"With the backing of General Motors, SoftBank and now Honda, Cruise is deeply resourced to accomplish our mission to safely deploy autonomous technology across the globe," Vogt said in a statement.
"The Honda partnership paves the way for massive scale by bringing a beautiful, efficient, and purpose-built vehicle to our network of shared autonomous vehicles."
The announcement indicates that Cruise, which up to this point was operating exclusively with a fleet of Chevy Bolts, will see it's technology integrated into platforms designed and engineered by Honda.
This is a not-unfamiliar move in the global auto industry, as automakers look to share costs by working together on mutually beneficial technologies.
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