General Motors has announced a $500 million dollar investment in ride service Lyft, half of Lyft’s latest $1 billion venture finance round. General Motors will not only support Lyft with a huge cash influx, but it will also be helping Lyft develop a network of autonomous self-driving cars. This GM deal is hot on the heels of news that Ford is helping Alphabet/Google with their self-driving car project. GM will also be setting up car-rental hubs in the US where people who want to earn money can grab a car and drive for Lyft.
“We strongly believe that autonomous vehicle go-to-market strategy is through a network, not through individual car ownership,” John Zimmer, Lyft’s president, said in an interview.
“We think there’s going to be more change in the world of mobility in the next five years than there has been in the last 50.”
The president of GM, Daniel Ammann, will also be taking a seat on the board of directors of Lyft, a normal move when companies invest huge amounts of money into another. Both Uber and Lyft have seen success in their business models and with this extra money and GM backing of R&D, it will be interesting to see where Lyft takes the business next.
Do you use Lyft or Uber? How do you like their services? Is this the future of car services? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or on Google+, Facebook and Twitter.
[button link=”http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/05/technology/gm-invests-in-lyft.html?_r=0″ icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: The New York Times[/button]Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
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