Honda to invest $2.75 billion in Cruise’s autonomous vehicle initiative

Cruise and General Motors have announced that they have joined forces with Honda to pursue the shared goal of transforming mobility through the large-scale deployment of autonomous vehicle technology.

Autocar Pro News Desk By Autocar Pro News Desk calendar 05 Oct 2018 Views icon4764 Views Share - Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to LinkedIn Share to Whatsapp

Cruise Automation's automated car

Honda will work jointly with Cruise Automotion and General Motors to fund and develop a purpose-built autonomous vehicle for Cruise that can serve a wide variety of use cases and be manufactured at high volume for global deployment. Honda will contribute approximately $2 billion over 12 years to these initiatives, which, together with a $750 million equity investment in Cruise, brings its total commitment to the project to $2.75 billion. In addition to the recently announced SoftBank investments, this transaction brings the post-money valuation of Cruise to $14.6 billion.

"This is the logical next step in General Motors and Honda's relationship, given our joint work on electric vehicles, and our close integration with Cruise," said General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Barra. "Together, we can provide Cruise with the world'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."

"Honda chose to collaborate with Cruise and General Motors based on their leadership in autonomous and electric vehicle technology and our shared vision of a zero-emissions and the zero-collision world," said Honda executive vice president and representative director COO Seiji Kuraishi. "We will complement their strengths through our expertise in space efficiency and design to develop the most desirable and effective shared autonomous vehicle."

"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," said Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt. "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."

 

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