General Motors and Lyft plan to develop autonomous ride-sharing vehicles

· Autonomous On-Demand Network: The joint development of a network of on-demand autonomous vehicles will leverage GM’s deep knowledge of autonomous technology and Lyft’s capabilities in providing a broad choice of ride-sharing services.

“GM is the largest automaker in the USA, so it made a lot of sense”, said Lyft president and cofounder John Zimmer.

“We see the future of personal mobility as connected, seamless and autonomous“, GM President Dan Ammann said in a release.

GM in the meantime will also start immediately providing use of vehicles over the short term for drivers of Lyft at rental hubs for certain cities in the USA of which they will be equipped with the OnStar navigation system, as well as other modern up to date technology. The plan gives GM an edge over competitors like Daimler AG and Ford Motor Co., who are developing their own ride-sharing services, AP reports.

Ammann said the alliance should not be viewed as odd given Lyft is in the business of ride sharing, which theoretically hurts automobile sales for the likes of GM.

In late December, CNNMoney reported that Lyft was seeking up to $1 billion in new funding. The additional funds bring to $2 billion the total amount of capital the firm has attracted since it was founded in 2012.

Neither GM nor Lyft have announced a real autonomous auto ride-hailing timeline, in part due to the uncertain state of legislation governing autonomous vehicles.

Lyft said Monday that it has closed all of that round. Lyft is now valued at $5.5 billion.

The two will also jointly develop a network of self-driving vehicles available on-demand for customers. While less popular than Uber on the east coast, Lyft is just as prevalent, if not more so, in many west coast cities. Lyft and General Motors hope to take that marriage one step further: working together on research for autonomous cars. Both see big changes coming in the traditional model of vehicle ownership and had similar ideas about how to address it.