GM teams with Lyft for on-demand autonomous auto network

General Motors has invested $500 million into Lyft as part of the ride-sharing company’s latest $1 billion funding round.

“Longer term, there are elements that GM is focused on and parts that Lyft is focused on”, Lyft President John Zimmer said in an interview with Forbes.

GM president Dan Ammann says that the company is looking to the future of transportation with this new investment.

Through the partnership, Lyft drivers and customers will have access to GM’s OnStar services. The New York Times reports that GM, the automotive manufacturing giant, and ride-sharing service Lyft have come together in a deal that would give consumers more options for travel and work.

The GM investment came as apart of a $1 billion fund-raising round by Lyft which also saw contributions from China’s Didi Kuaidi and Alibaba, Japan’s Rakuten and Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding, owned by buillionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

Headquartered in San Francisco, Lyft now provides its ridesharing app service in numerous cities across the U.S. The company claims to provide around seven million rides per month in more than 190 cities. Having fewer people own cars has always been a long-term goal for Zimmer and his co-founder Logan Green. The two companies will set up joint research teams to work on the robo-cars, and General Motors takes a seat on Lyft’s board.

With General Motors’ investment, Lyft is now valued at $5.5 billion, while rival Uber is at $64.6 billion, according to the Journal. This will include “personalized mobility services and experiences” through both Lyft and GM’s channels. What’s more, the Detroit-based auto manufacturer will partner with Lyft to develop self-driving cars, which could be called up on-demand by customers.

Kalanick at Uber, whose company has invested aggressively in cars that are self-driving, said that it could be between 5 and 15 years prior to such vehicles being deployed meaningfully around the nation.