GM to invest $500M in ride-sharing firm Lyft

General Motors will invest $500 million in San Francisco ride-hailing startup Lyft, the companies announced Monday, forging a partnership that showcases how automakers are embracing new technology that has changed how people get from one place to the next.

In a separate statement, Lyft said its $1 billion funding round includes an investment of $100 million by Saudia Arabia’s Kingdom Holding Company.

“Lyft has built a strong business with fast growth and we believe in their long-term success”, Alwaleed said in a release.

Much larger rival Uber is developing its own autonomous technology, while Google and Ford are reportedly set to announce a similar partnership during the CES conference.

Other investors in the funding round included Asian e-commerce companies Rakuten and Alibaba, as well as Chinese taxi service Didi Kuaidi.

Lyft Co-Founder and President John Zimmer and GM President Dan Ammann said in interviews with the Associated Press that the two companies started serious talks about three months ago. Those vehicles will tap into GM’s OnStar service, while GM and Lyft promised “personalized mobility services and experiences”, but did not elaborate. “The GM deal should help Lyft extend its life as a smaller but still potent number two in the ride-hailing space”.

The partnership makes GM a preferred provider of short-term use vehicles to Lyft drivers’ through rental hubs throughout the USA, the automaker said. It will team up with Lyft to create an “autonomous on-demand network”, which will also aid Lyft as it goes up against competitor Uber, which is working on its own autonomous vehicles. The additional funds bring to $2 billion the total amount of capital the firm has attracted since it was founded in 2012. The company said it is valued at $5.5 billion. Is this the future of vehicle services?

This is just part of Lyft’s news this morning, the rest including a total of $1 billion raised from a variety of partners.