Cruise, GM partner with Microsoft to commercialize self-driving vehicles

(Reuters) – Self-driving car maker Cruise and majority shareholder General Motors Co said on Tuesday they would partner with Microsoft Corp to commercialize driverless autonomous vehicles.

Microsoft will join General Motors, Honda Motor Co and institutional investors in a combined new equity investment of more than $2 billion in Cruise, bringing the post-money valuation of Cruise to $30 billion.

Cruise will use Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, for its self-driving vehicles.

“As Cruise and GM’s preferred cloud, we will apply the power of Azure to help them scale and make autonomous transportation mainstream,” Microsoft’s Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said in a statement.

GM will work with Microsoft to accelerate the automaker’s digitization initiatives, including artificial intelligence, and explore opportunities to streamline operations across digital supply chains and bring new mobility services to customers faster.

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