Automotive manufacturer General Motors agreed on Friday to acquire Cruise Automation, a US-based driverless vehicle technology developer backed by chipmaker Qualcomm.
The size of the deal has not been officially confirmed but Fortune reports it is worth more than $1bn and will be conducted through a combination of cash and stock. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2016.
Founded in 2013, Cruise Automation is developing technology capable of turning any car into a driverless vehicle. Post-acquisition, it will retain all of its 40 employees in San Francisco, and GM will invest further into the company to hire additional staff.
Dan Ammann, president of GM, told news publication Business Insider he expects the acquisition of Cruise will enable GM to bring fully autonomous cars to the market.
Cruise had raised more than $18m in financing. Qualcomm Ventures, Qualcomm’s corporate venturing unit, contributed to $2m of debt financing in December 2015, according to Crunchbase.
Although the regulatory filing does not name Qualcomm Ventures and Cruise is not listed on its website, the unit’s official Twitter account acknowledged Cruise as a portfolio company when it congratulated it on the acquisition.
Spark Capital and Sam Altman, president of incubator Y Combinator, co-led Cruise’s $12.5m series A round in September 2015. Its other investors include Maven Ventures and Founder Collective.
Kyle Vogt, founder of Cruise Automation, said: “GM’s commitment to autonomous vehicles is inspiring, deliberate, and completely in line with our vision to make transportation safer and more accessible.
“We are excited to be partnering with GM and believe this is a groundbreaking and necessary step toward rapidly commercialising autonomous vehicle technology.”
– Photo courtesy of Cruise Automation