On Thursday, General Motors announced lofty cash infusion into its Cruise Automation self-driving car unit. SoftBank will invest a whopping $2.25 billion into GM Cruise to strengthen self-driving vehicle development.
With the news, Bloomberg invited Sam Abuelsamid, an analyst at Navigant Research, to break down what the investment means for both SoftBank and GM alike.
Briefly, the investment will help GM commercialize its self-driving car technology more quickly and help scale operations. And as with any investment, SoftBank will receive a stake in the company—19.6 percent, to be exact.
SoftBank has spent billions of dollars around the world to invest in various self-driving car companies. They include Uber, and major players in China and India. However, with the investment into GM Cruise, SoftBank gains access to a vehicle manufacturer.
The investment opens up the potential to build self-driving cars for various global services, and more importantly, the other companies SoftBank has invested in around the world.
GM has big plans for its Cruise Automation unit. If all falls in place, GM wants to commercialize its self-driving cars in 2019, likely with a ride-hailing service, in an undisclosed city.
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Like it not, robotaxi’s are inevitable and it will be extremely profitable if you invest in the correct company…While GM is using the Bolt EV to gain valuable information, the immediate future is commercially owned shuttles which GM does have in the pipeline based on their 20 EVs by 2023 announcement…Las Vegas has one now (Downtown, fixed loop, doesn’t go over 15mph) and the University of Michigan supposedly has one that will start in two days going back and forth between two campus…There are many more shuttle projects in the works including getting people to and from the Dallas Cowboys stadiums…