Taking another big step toward full vehicle autonomy, General Motors announced Friday morning that is acquiring Cruise Automation, an autonomous technology startup.
By bringing Cruise Automation under the General Motors Autonomous Vehicle Development Team, while also keeping it independent, GM hopes to bring fully autonomous cars to market as rapidly as possible.
Fortune is reporting that sources close to the deal peg the acquisition cost at “north of $1 billion." When asked to verify the figure, a GM representative refused to comment on speculation. And that's likely what this figure represents, as it's unlikely Cruise Automation would have such a valuation.
“Fully autonomous vehicles can bring our customers enormous benefits in terms of greater convenience, lower cost and improved safety for their daily mobility needs,” said GM President Dan Ammann.
Founded in 2013 in San Francisco, California, Cruise Automation notably created an aftermarket semi-autonomous driving system called Cruise RP-1. The system, which cost $10,000, famously turned a ordinary car into a piloted car -- albeit with a lot of extra hardware and an extensive install process.
Although Cruise Automation has abandoned the Cruise RP-1, it was the speed at which Cruise tackled and solved many issues facing autonomous vehicles that attracted GM to the company.
The acquisition of Cruise Automation and the previously announced partnership between GM and Lyft indicates that GM isn't afraid to look outside its walls to the path toward the future of mobility.
When Mashable asked GM President Ammann exactly why that was, he replied, "We want to win." Specifically, GM wants to be the first -- and the best -- to bring autonomous tech to the market.
Certainly, the acquisition of Cruise Automation will help achieve that goal.