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Old 5th October 2018, 18:24   #1
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Honda invests in GM's Cruise to build self-driving car

Honda is collaborating with General Motors (GM) and investing $750 million in self-driving car start-up Cruise. The company plans to invest an additional $2 billion over the next 12 years to develop an autonomous car based on Cruise's software. With this investment, Cruise has three major shareholders - General Motors, Softbank, and Honda. General Motors will continue to remain the majority shareholder.

Honda invests in GM's Cruise to build self-driving car-dfrontcruise.jpg

In 2015, Honda announced that it intended to build a partial self-driving car by 2020. In 2017, the company announced that it planned to build cars with level 4 self-driving capability by 2025 and also released a video showcasing freeway-only autonomous capabilities. Level 4 autonomy is awarded to cars that have fully self-driving capabilities, but only in certain locations and weather conditions.

Honda has found itself lagging in the race to build a self-driving car. It will be hoping that the tie-up with Cruise will help it accelerate its programme and allow it to launch a level 4 self-driving car earlier.

Cruise's main rival Waymo has ordered Chrysler Pacifica minivans. It is also working with Jaguar to build up to 20,000 self-driving I-Pace cars.

Cruise currently modifies Chevrolet Bolt cars to accommodate self-driving capabilities. On the other hand, the Honda vehicle will be built from scratch.



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Last edited by ChiragM : 5th October 2018 at 18:26.
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Old 9th October 2018, 09:56   #2
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Re: Honda invests in GM's Cruise to build self-driving car

That's quite a heavy commitment from a company that has always prided itself on its independence. In the era of mega-mergers (1980s through the 2000s), Honda & BMW fought fiercely to maintain their independence.

But the cost of tomorrow's technology is too high and Honda is no longer a technological leader like it once was. Collaboration is the best way forward . That's why, in the last 2 - 3 years, we've heard of a lot of partnerships (instead of mergers). The best example is perhaps Maruti-Toyota partnering up.

It's one thing to invest in Vtec or turbo engines, but entirely another to bet the house on autonomous car tech.

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Originally Posted by ChiragM View Post
Honda has found itself lagging in the race to build a self-driving car. It will be hoping that the tie-up with Cruise will help it accelerate its programme and allow it to launch a level 4 self-driving car earlier.
Honda is still small compared to the likes of say, Toyota. When you have a relatively limited budget, where do you spend? EVs vs fuel cells vs autonomous tech vs car sharing vs a million other options? On the other hand, giants like Toyota & Mercedes can afford to invest in everything. Smaller car companies will come to these giants like bees to a hive. I expect a lot more collaborations coming up.

Last edited by GTO : 9th October 2018 at 09:59.
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Old 10th October 2018, 15:20   #3
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Re: Honda invests in GM's Cruise to build self-driving car

Now you know why! Consumer Reports (a publication I'd trust blindly) rates GM / Cadillac's auto pilot as the no.1. Much better than even that of Tesla or Volvo.

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