Honda invests $750 million in GM subsidiary to develop self-driving car

The Japanese motorcycle and car manufacturer Honda is investing $750 million in Cruise, a subsidiary of the American General Motors. The aim is to develop a new autonomous driving vehicle for Cruise.

Honda says the vehicle will be suitable for a wide range of tasks. The vehicle must also be able to be produced in large numbers, so that it can be offered worldwide. Honda, GM and Cruise are collaborating on the development. No further details about the new self-driving vehicle to be made have yet been released.

The Japanese manufacturer will invest a total of $2.75 billion in these types of initiatives over the next twelve years; the investment of $750 million is part of this amount. SoftBank previously invested $3 billion in Cruise Automation. This company has not yet produced any vehicles for the market and uses a relatively small number of test vehicles. Cruise was a startup acquired by GM in 2016 for approximately $1 billion.

At the beginning of this year, General Motors showed the fourth generation of the existing series of electric cars, which is being developed together with Cruise. The car, the Cruise AV, has no steering wheel or other controls and should be able to hit the road in 2019. It is the fourth generation of the electric Chevy Bolt.