GM teams up with Microsoft on driverless cars

Detroit: General Motors is teaming up with Microsoft to accelerate its rollout of electric, self-driving cars.

In the partnership announced Tuesday, the companies said Microsoft’s Azure cloud and edge computing platform would be used to “commercialise its unique autonomous vehicle solutions at scale.”

Microsoft joins General Motors, Honda and other institutional investors in a combined new equity investment of more than USD 2 billion in Cruise, bringing its valuation to about USD 30 billion.

Cruise, which GM bought in 2016, has been a leader in driverless technology and got the go-ahead from California late last year to test its automated vehicles in San Francisco without backup drivers.

Shares in GM jumped more than 8 per cent in early trading, to USD 54.07.