Telecommunications and internet group SoftBank agreed yesterday to provide $2.25bn in funding for GM Cruise Holdings, an autonomous driving spinoff of automotive manufacturer General Motors (GM).
Vision Fund will invest an initial $900m when the deal closes, at which time GM itself will put up a further $1.1bn in funding, and will supply the rest once Cruise advances its driverless car technology to a commercial release, taking a 19.6% stake altogether.
Cruise is developing autonomous vehicle technology that will be deployed in GM’s Bolt range of electric vehicles. The technology is being road tested in the US states of California, Arizona and Michigan, and is expected to reach the market in 2019.
The company was formed in 2013 and GM paid $1bn to acquire it in early 2016, giving corporate venturing unit Qualcomm Ventures an exit that earned it Sub-$50m Investment of the Year at the Global Corporate Venturing Awards that year.
Mary Barra, GM’s chairman and chief executive, said: “Our Cruise and GM teams together have made tremendous progress over the last two years. Teaming up with SoftBank adds an additional strong partner as we pursue our vision of zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion.”
Michael Ronen, managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, which runs Vision Fund, added: “GM has made significant progress toward realising the dream of completely automated driving to dramatically reduce fatalities, emissions and congestion.”
“The GM Cruise approach of a fully integrated hardware and software stack gives it a unique competitive advantage. We are very impressed by the advances made by the Cruise and GM teams, and are thrilled to help them lead a historic transformation of the automobile industry.”