Honda (TYO: 7267) has announced plans to invest $2.8 billion into General Motors Co’s self-driving vehicles.
The Japanese carmaker will invest over the next twelve years, whilst taking a 5.7 percent stake in the fleet.
“This is the logical next step in General Motors and Honda’s relationship, given our joint work on electric vehicles, and our close integration with Cruise,” said General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Barra in a joint statement.
“Together, we can provide Cruise with the world’s best design, engineering and manufacturing expertise, and global reach to establish them as the leader in autonomous vehicle technology – while they move to deploy self-driving vehicles at scale.”
Honda Executive Vice President and Representative Director COO Seiji Kuraishi said: “Honda chose to collaborate with Cruise and General Motors based on their leadership in autonomous and electric vehicle technology and our shared vision of a zero-emissions and zero-collision world.”
“We will complement their strengths through our expertise in space efficiency and design to develop the most desirable and effective shared autonomous vehicle,” the added.
Earlier this year, Japan’s Softbank (TYO: 9984) invested $2.25 billion in GM Cruise.
Honda and Softbank’s investment values GM Cruise at $14.6 billion.
Softbank has also invested in Toyota (TYO: 7203), creating a new joint venture partner called MONET.
“Possibilities include demand-focused just-in-time mobility services, such as meal delivery vehicles where food is prepared on the move, hospital shuttles where onboard medical examinations can be performed, mobile offices,” the companies said.
The race for the first self-driving cars comes with concerns over safety.
Uber’s self-driving cars testing led to a fatal accident in the US and a self-driving car owned by Apple was involved in an accident earlier this month.
Shares in GM (NYSE: GM) are trading up two percent at 34,00 (0936GMT).
