Microsoft Joins in a $2bn Investment in GM’s Self-Driving Car Firm, Cruise

Microsoft has joined in a$2 billion investment in Cruise, the self-driving car company mostly owned by GM. The investment puts Cruise’s total value at $30 billion, Cruise and Microsoft said.

Microsoft joins Honda, already a major investor and partner in Cruise, and various institutional investors in the $2 billion total equity investment.

The companies did not divulge how large of a portion of that investment Microsoft is making or how large of a stake in Cruise Microsoft will receive as a result of its investment.

However, a Cruise spokesperson confirmed that General Motors will retain a majority stake. Cruise and GM will also use Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform to help develop vehicles and services, the companies added.

Microsoft joins other tech companies that have ventured into self-driving vehicles.

Apple has reportedly restarted plans to create its own electric self-driving car. Waymo, a leading competitor to Cruise, is a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet.

Cruise was founded in 2013 and acquired by GM in 2016 for an undisclosed amount. The company’s current president, Dan Ammann, had been president of GM until joining Cruise in 2018.

GM executives said in 2017 that they expected driverless taxi services to one day be a bigger and more profitable business than selling vehicles directly to customers.

Honda first teamed up with GM on Cruise in 2018, announcing then that it would invest $2 billion over 12 years. Honda’s participation in this latest round of investment is in addition to that, a Cruise spokesman said, Honda worked with GM to develop a purpose-built self-driving car, called the Origin, for things like taxi and delivery services. It has no steering wheels or pedals, and is designed to function entirely without a driver.