The pursuit of autonomous cars has brought car manufacturers and technology companies closer together than ever. Microsoft and General Motors, strange bedmates though they may have been a decade or two ago, are now teaming up to put Cruise’s robotaxis on the road.
On Tuesday, Microsoft announced a contribution to a $ 2 billion investment round that also included funding from GM and Honda, bringing Cruise’s total valuation to $ 30 billion. GM acquired Cruise in 2016; Since then, the self-driving research startup has grown from 40 employees to nearly 2,000, the Financial times.
Microsoft’s involvement gives Cruise a backbone for cloud computing to grow and grow faster; Cruise, in turn, gives Microsoft access to the whole autonomous car thing, which is fast becoming the domain of the companies that make all of your smartphones and much of the TV you love to stream. From Joint press release from Microsoft and GM announce the news:
To unlock the potential of cloud computing for self-driving vehicles, Cruise will leverage Azure, Microsoft’s cloud and edge computing platform, to widely commercialize its unique autonomous vehicle solutions. Microsoft, as Cruise’s preferred cloud provider, will also leverage Cruise’s deep industry expertise to enhance its customer-driven product innovation and serve transportation companies around the world through continued investment in Azure.
As we learned last week, GM has many EVs on the way, along with interesting new initiatives such as BrightDrop, which is just as concerned with logistics and software-based fleet management as is the production of electric cars. Again, this is where Microsoft comes in, as GM CEO Mary Barra explains:
“Microsoft is a great addition to the team as we move towards a future world of zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion,” said Mary Barra, GM chairman and CEO. “Microsoft will help us accelerate the commercialization of Cruise’s all-electric self-driving vehicles and help GM realize even more benefits from cloud computing as we launch 30 new electric vehicles worldwide by 2025 and create new businesses and services to drive growth. “
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About a year ago, Cruise unveiled the Origin – the pitch for the autonomous shuttle bus which looks good as many autonomous shuttle buses probably will as it is a round box with lots of glass and big wheels pushed to the corners to maximize interior volume. It certainly looks more conventional than it does Zoox’s design, but honestly, I don’t care what my anonymous, soulless chariot of the future looks like – just that it gets me where I’m going relatively efficiently without killing me or anyone else.
Cruise has been testing vehicles in the form of modified Chevrolet Bolts for five years. During that time, those bolts have accumulated 2 million miles of testing in the company’s hometown, San Francisco, in addition to previous tests at GM’s Michigan testing ground.
Until the end of last year, those journeys were made with a driver at the ready, but Cruise would now be testing fully self-driving cars. Unlike Waymo, it doesn’t look like it’s getting passengers around yet, as Google’s self-driving startup recently started in the Phoenix metro area. It may be some time before Bay Area residents get the chance to drive an Origin, although Microsoft is joining this effort, it may be speeding things up.