Reuters reported on February 1 that cruise, an automatic driving technology company, said on Tuesday that the vision fund of Softbank group has agreed to invest $1.35 billion in the second batch of additional investment, and cruise is trying to launch driverless Siasun Robot&Automation Co.Ltd(300024) taxi service in San Francisco.
GM CEO Mary Barra said cruise, which is majority owned by GM, has strong financial support from investors such as Honda and Microsoft, and does not intend to raise more funds from the capital market in the short term.
Kyle Vogt, founder and President of cruise, said that Softbank's investment will help cruise quickly promote the technology in San Francisco and more communities. Cruise said it would open the waiting list to the public from Tuesday local time to sign up for free rides in San Francisco.
In 2018, Softbank vision fund invested $900 million in the San Francisco based start-up and promised to invest another $1.35 billion when cruise was ready for commercial deployment, which was planned for 2019.
