GM purchasing software company to develop autonomous car – Extra Newspaper

DETROIT – General Motors is buying Cruise Automation, a start-up of autonomous vehicles in San Francisco, in the latest move of a giant of the automotive sector to approach the Silicon Valley in the race for desenvolvolvimento of autonomous vehicles.

The Cruise, with 40 employees, was launched in 2013 and raised $ 20 million in capital to date, said founder Kyle Vogt told Reuters. GM and Cruise did not reveal the value of the acquisition. The technology website Re / code, citing sources, said GM paid $ 1 billion. A GM spokesman declined to comment on the number.

– We will commit considerable resources to recruit and increase the capacity of staff – said the president of GM, Dan Amman. – Our position is that autonomous technology is demonstrably safer than human drivers.

The goal of GM is using Cruise technology and staff to speed up plans to launch autonomous vehicles, potentially as part of shared vehicle fleet, “as soon as possible,” Ammann said. He did not provide a deadline for this.

It is the third major investment in GM in the new transport sector. The company has already injected US $ 500 million in Lyft, charter taxis through mobile application service, and started a similar service in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which plans to expand in other cities.

FORD: MOBILITY SERVICES UNIT

Ford Motor is creating a new subsidiary to expand efforts to profit from transportation services through the movement the major automakers and auto parts suppliers to buy or create the ability to sell transport services and profit from digital connections for high-speed vehicles and autonomous cars.

the new control unit, Ford Smart Mobility LLC, will be Jim Hackett, former CEO of Steelcase, furniture giant to Michigan office. The division may invest in transportation services companies, but it is not only a venture capital fund, said the chief executive of Ford, Mark Fields, in an interview on Friday

-. The award them it is to design, build, develop, and in some cases invest in new mobility services – said

Fields has not revealed what will be the capital of the subsidiary..

– We want to be leaders and dedicate the appropriate capital – said Fields

Hackett, current Ford board member, will leave the board to become chairman of Ford Smart Mobility council. said Ford. As CEO of Steelcase between 1994 and 2013, Hackett led a furnitures company for office restructuring and created ties with many Silicon Valley companies that bought their products for offices.