Microsoft backs General Motors’ Cruise Automation self-driving car venture

Microsoft is in on the future of self-driving cars. On Tuesday, General Motors’ self-driving car subsidiary, Cruise Automation, announced the company participated in the latest round of funding. Although the firm didn’t provide breakout figures, Microsoft contributed to a final sum of $2 billion. That’s “billion” with a B.

General Motors itself and its partner Honda also funneled cash into Cruise, though Microsoft’s investment forms new ties for the tech giant. The company will provide its cloud computing expertise to the Cruise platform, and the long-term goal is to create a connected ecosystem ripe for autonomous car commercialization. 

In the meantime, Microsoft also plans to work more closely with GM. The automaker said Microsoft will help it explore more opportunities to digitalize supply chains and boost productivity. Investigations into where the automaker may be able to apply machine learning and artificial intelligence are also on the table.

Companies most sincerely believe GM and Cruise are onto something. Will it be the future the Cruise Origin concept pod promised last year? Or will the industry perhaps take a different turn? Those answers remain unknown, but companies promised this decade will be a big one for autonomous driving technologies. We’ll just have to remain patient to see how close we really are to seeing robo taxis on city streets.

General Motors Cruise AV is more than a Bolt without a steering wheel

See all photos

Now playing:
Watch this:

Surprising new versions of autonomous vehicles

2:27