(Reuters) – Self-propelled vehicle manufacturer Cruise and majority shareholder General Motors Co. said on Tuesday they would partner with Microsoft Corp to commercialize driverless autonomous vehicles.
Microsoft, along with General Motors, Honda Motor Co. and institutional investors, will bring a joint new equity investment of more than $ 2 billion in Cruise, bringing the Cruise valuation to $ 30 billion.
Cruise will use Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, for its self-driving vehicles.
“As the preferred cloud of Cruise and GM, we will use the power of Azure to help them make autonomous transportation mainstream,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement.
GM will work with Microsoft to accelerate the automaker’s digitalization initiatives, including artificial intelligence, and explore opportunities to streamline digital supply chain operations and more quickly provide new mobility services to customers.
Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; Edited by Amy Caren Daniel