GM Invests $500 Million in Ride-Hailing Lyft

Lyft has raised another $US1 billion in funding and gained a powerful ally in General Motors in the fight with Uber to gain a fleet of autonomous vehicles. GM also becomes Lyft‘s preferred vehicle provider, improving chances that drivers will be behind the wheel of a Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, or Buick.

John Zimmer, Lyft’s president and co-founder, added that the new alliance aims to “build a better future by redefining traditional vehicle ownership”.

GM President Dan Ammann stated they see a future of personal mobility that is “connected, seamless and autonomous”.

GM is open to working with some of Lyft’s global partners, which include Didi Kuaidi in China, Ola in India and GrabTaxi in Southeast Asia, Ammann said. Additionally, Lyft and GM will tap each other’s existing infrastructures to provide complementary services to their existing customers. In addition, GM will hold a seat on the company’s board of directors.

But Ammann said GM’s core profit comes from cars sold outside the urban areas where Lyft mostly operates. That’s from Lyft’s own press release, mind you. The companies provided no timeline for their ride sharing service.

There’s no word yet as to when we can expect to see the Lyft + GM autonomous vehicles on the road yet, but it certainly gives much larger rival Uber something to think about as it continues to pursue its own self-driving technology. It also plans to expand to additional markets across the country, as well as internationally.

Lyft made its announcement four days after smaller competitor Sidecar shut down operations. BMW is experimenting with renting out electric cars through its Drive Now service. By comparison, GM is valued at $53 billion and earned $153 billion in revenue in 2014. They’re hitching rides through mobile apps such as Lyft and Uber to avoid traffic or long waits for parking, and as major Silicon Valley tech firms and automakers develop driverless cars, GM anticipates the two efforts will go hand in hand.

GM’s shares fell 2 per cent to $33.31 on Monday.