The report said there’s\u00a0no firm plan for GM and Cruise to work with Uber, though Uber officials\u00a0have\u00a0taken rides in\u00a0Cruise’s self-driving fleet that tests mainly in San Francisco. In August, Cruise introduced a ride-hailing app for San Francisco employees to access its driverless vehicles. At the time, Vogt said the company was pursuing all possible avenues to create a viable on-demand autonomous service.<\/p>\n

“To get us to the future faster, we\u2019re prepared to go with one partner, many partners, or no partners at all,” Vogt said on a media call.<\/p>\n

Cruise has had a string of announcements on advances in its self-driving vehicles fleet in the past few months, and GM on Wednesday doubled down on its commitment to creating on-demand autonomous vehicle technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur mission is to remove the driver from the vehicle and create a safer world,\u201d the company said in emailed statement. \u201cWe remain steadfast in our goal to launch our self-driving technology first in a ride-sharing environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suggestions of\u00a0breakdown between the companies are reminiscent of what transpired between Uber and Google.<\/p>\n

In 2013 Google Ventures invested more than $250 million in Uber. In an April 2016\u00a0Bloomberg Television interview, Google Ventures CEO Bill Maris said its total investment in Uber surpassed $300 million. And just like GM\u2019s Ammann, David Drummond, Google parent Alphabet\u2019s chief legal officer, held a seat on Uber\u2019s board \u2013 until relations between the two sides\u00a0deteriorated in August 2016.<\/p>\n

Currently, Uber and Alphabet\u2019s Waymo are locked in a\u00a0bitter legal fight\u00a0involving the theft of Google self-driving car secrets by the former head of Uber\u2019s autonomous vehicle program.<\/p>\n

GM is a vast global automotive powerhouse that\u2019s seeking to navigate rapid developments in technology and consumer demands for mobility that don\u2019t necessarily involve vehicle ownership. Whether it ultimately works with Lyft, Uber, another service or creates its own autonomous mobility network,\u00a0the only sure bet is more twists before it launches.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The biggest bombshell in GM’s eyes likely hit last month when Ford, its\u00a0top U.S. rival, said it too intended to launch an autonomous vehicle partnership\u00a0using Lyft’s “open platform.”<\/p>\n

Curiously, Lyft\u00a0even announced plans for its\u00a0own autonomous vehicle technology\u00a0development program in July\u00a0with a new\u00a0Silicon Valley R&D center\u00a0that would seem to replicate work being done by its ally Cruise.<\/p>\n

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GM called the report “speculation,” adding late Wednesday that\u00a0\u201cnothing has changed in the relationship between GM and Lyft.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, a company spokesman clarified that GM’s initial agreement to partner with Lyft on autonomous vehicles never required exclusivity — on either side. Lyft didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With report from Forbes<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alliances and tie-ups in the autonomous vehicle space are evolving as fast as the technology itself. In the latest twist, General Motors\u2019 relationship with Lyft is said to have chilled to the point that it\u2019s making overtures rival to ride-hailing service Uber. The biggest U.S. automaker is discussing a plan to put autonomous vehicles developed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":5187,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,47],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5184"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5184"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5188,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5184\/revisions\/5188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}