GM did not disclose the cost of the acquisition, but stated that the deal was driven by “Cruise’s deep software talent and rapid development capability”.
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Cruise’s test vehicles are fully autonomous, said company founder Kyle Vogt.
General Motors Co. continued buying into West Coast technology companies by acquiring San Francisco-based Cruise Automation Inc., a maker of technology that will help the automaker compete with Google Inc.in the race to develop self-driving cars.
GM executives have outlined plans to develop self-driving vehicles, including autonomous electric vehicles, that could be deployed in ride sharing operations in various markets.
In early January it also spent $500 million for a large stake in ride-hailing service Lyft, with an eye to eventually having Lyft drivers use its autonomous cars. GM gradually has been introducing semiautonomous features on vehicles, such as lane-keeping assist and adaptive cruise control.
The 3-year-old technology company will act as an independent unit within GM’s newly-created Autonomous Vehicle Development Team led by Doug Parks, GM vice president of autonomous technology and vehicle execution, and will continue to be based in San Francisco.
Cruise has developed systems that take autonomous vehicles further.
Now, according to Fortune, GM is willing to double this investment to $1bn for the purchase of the three-year-old start-up Cruise which has taken a very different approach to self-driving cars.
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Cruise has grown from products for semi-autonomous conversion systems since its launch in 2013 to building “full stack” driverless technology over the a year ago. It has been fighting to clarify regulations for driverless technologies and prevent states from erecting roadblocks.
