AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)05/08 Report--

According to foreign media reports, on May 7, local time, Cruise, a subsidiary of GM, acquired existing investors, with Japanese Softbank and Honda investing US $1.15 billion.

The new round of funding raised cruise's valuation to $11.5 billion, with parent general motors shares up 2.3% at $38.89 in afternoon trading on the new york stock exchange. Cruise was acquired two years ago for $1 billion by general motors, which owns 80% of Cruise, and companies such as softbank and honda have invested about $3 billion in it. Cruise has received $7.25 billion in capital investment over the past year and is valued at $14.6 billion after receiving Honda's investment last October.

Cruise is a leader in driverless research and development, launching its first L3-class driverless vehicle in September 2017. This model is based on the GM Chevrolet bolt model. This model completely abandons the steering wheel and pedals, which shows that Cruise has considerable confidence in its own technology.

From the investment of Honda Softbank and other consortia, it can be seen that Cruise has reached the level of sufficient commercial use in autonomous driving technology. GM has announced that it will launch a fourth-generation cruise model with an L4 class by the end of 2019. It has filed an application with the National Highway and Road Safety Administration, six years earlier than industry consensus suggests 2025.

Honda and SoftBank's investment in Cruise is obvious, benefiting Japanese manufacturers by investing in and sharing autonomous driving technology, while SoftBank, as Japan's largest mobile communication service provider, can provide network communication and vehicle information chain technology for autonomous driving technology. This step can be described as killing two birds with one stone, and Japanese and American auto companies will dominate the commanding heights of autonomous driving.

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