GM Groups Up Wtih Microsoft On Cruise Self-driving Vehicle

Common Motors declared Tuesday it is joining forces with Microsoft on its Cruise autonomous driving venture, with the tech big coming on board as an investor and know-how associate as it pushes to commercialize self-driving technologies.

The companies have founded “a very long-phrase strategic romantic relationship,” and Microsoft will be part of GM, Honda and institutional traders in a new $2 billion equity expenditure round, GM and Cruise claimed in a press release.

The tech giant also will give components and computer software engineering support.

The approach includes the use of Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing capability to commercialize Cruise technological innovation.

“Our mission to convey safer, improved, and much more reasonably priced transportation to every person isn’t just a tech race — it’s also a rely on race,” Cruise Main Government Dan Ammann mentioned.

Common Motors, which unveiled a new corporate brand before this month, introduced that Microsoft was signing up for its Cruise self-driving undertaking Picture: Standard Motors / –

“Microsoft, as the gold standard in the honest democratization of technology, will be a force multiplier for us as we commercialize our fleet of self-driving, all-electric, shared cars.”

Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella mentioned the undertaking will help GM and Cruise to “scale and make autonomous transportation mainstream.”

The partnership will come on the heels of a collection of GM announcements to reposition the Detroit large to contend with Tesla and other newer players.

Last 7 days, GM declared designs to construct a fleet of new electric vans, and before this thirty day period, the business unveiled its initial new corporate brand in many years in an exertion to change its graphic toward what it calls a environment of “zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion.”