The search for self-driving cars has brought car manufacturers and technology companies closer than ever. Microsoft and General Motors, strange bedmates, although they may have been a decade or two ago, are now partnering to put Cruise’s axis robot on the road.
On Tuesday, Microsoft announced a contribution to a $ 2 billion investment round that also included financing from GM and Honda, putting Cruise’s total valuation at $ 30 billion. GM acquired Cruise in 2016; since then, the freelance research startup has grown from 40 employees to almost 2,000, according to the Financial Times.
Microsoft’s involvement gives Cruise a cloud computing backbone to grow and grow faster; in turn, Cruise gives Microsoft a foray into the autonomous car market, which is fast becoming the domain of companies that already make their smartphones and much of the TV you love to broadcast. In Joint Microsoft and GM press release announcing the news:
To unlock the potential of cloud computing for autonomous vehicles, Cruise will take advantage of Azure, Microsoft’s leading cloud computing platform, to market its unique autonomous vehicle solutions at scale. Microsoft, as Cruise’s preferred cloud provider, will also take advantage of Cruise’s deep industry experience to enhance its customer-driven product innovation and serve shipping companies worldwide through ongoing investment in Azure.
As we learned last week, GM has many EVs coming, along with interesting new initiatives such as BrightDrop, dealing with both software-based logistics and fleet management and electric car manufacturing. Once again, this is where Microsoft comes in, as GM CEO Mary Barra explains:
“Microsoft is a great addition to the team as we move towards a future world of zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion,” said GM President and CEO Mary Barra. “Microsoft will help us accelerate the commercialization of Cruise’s all-electric and autonomous vehicles and help GM gain even more benefits from cloud computing by launching 30 new electric vehicles globally by 2025 and creating new businesses and services to drive growth. “
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About a year ago, Cruise Revealed the Origin – your proposal for the autonomous bus which looks, well, like many autonomous buses are likely to do, in the sense that it is a round box with lots of glass and big wheels pushed to the corners to maximize the internal volume. It certainly looks more conventional than Zoox Designbut, frankly, I don’t care what my faceless and soulless chariot looks like in the future – only it takes me where I’m going relatively efficiently, without killing myself or anyone else.
Cruise has been testing vehicles for five years in the form of modified Chevrolet Bolts. Over that time, these screws accumulated 2 million test miles in the company’s hometown, San Francisco, in addition to previous tests at GM’s Michigan proving ground.
By the end of last year, these trips were made with a ready driver, although Cruise is now reportedly testing fully driverless cars. Unlike Waymo, he doesn’t seem to be carrying passengers yet, as the Google startup he runs alone recently started doing in the Phoenix metropolitan area. It may still be a while before Bay Area residents have the opportunity to ride an Origin, although Microsoft joining the effort may well speed things up.