GM invests in Lyft to work on driverless ride

Both GM and Lyft believe that autonomous driving vehicles will first appear as part of public ride sharing services rather than as privately owned cars. “This raise and collaboration with GM are exciting milestones in our three-year history that continue Lyft’s leadership in redefining traditional vehicle ownership”.

“We see the future of personal mobility as connected, seamless and autonomous”, said GM President Dan Ammann in a press release issued by the auto company.

Together, GM and Lyft plan to open a network of USA hubs where Lyft drivers can rent GM vehicles. Up until a year ago, a large pink plastic mustache mounted on the car’s grille was the identifying icon of Lyft, a ridesharing service that just partnered up with General Motors. Though recently the company announced that the post valuation of the company now is $5.5 billion. Additionally, Lyft and GM will tap each other’s existing infrastructures to provide complementary services to their existing customers. 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.

The announcement comes at the beginning of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which promises more news on SDV with a number of panels and other announcements from the likes of Volkswagen, Valeo, and a rumored partnership between Google and Ford for autonomous vehicles.

Following its latest round of fund-raising – which also included a $100 million investment from Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding Co. – privately-held Lyft set its value at $5.5 billion. GM will invest $500 million into the partnership which will also earn the company a seat on the Lyft’s board of directors.

Lyft is hitching a ride with GM on the road to robo-cars. It expects revenue of about $1 billion in 2016.

“Thanks to OnStar, we drive help-sending, thief-catching, self-diagnosing, remotely commanded cars”.