General Motors (GM) , and the subsidiary specialized in the self-driving vehicles sector but Cruise , they have a long-term partnership term with Microsoft to accelerate and optimize the development of systems linked to the creation, and future marketing, of vehicles capable of moving on the roads in complete autonomy.

Companies will bring together all their advances made so far in the context of autonomous driving , both as regards the software and the hardware part, as well as what has matured in the cloud computing and the know-how related to the production of the final devices , with the ultimate aim of create a safe and user-friendly autonomous driving platform; a new equity investment of over 2 billion dollars in Cruise is also planned.

“Our mission to offer safer, better and more affordable transport to everyone is not just a technological race, but also a race for confidence. Microsoft will be a force multiplier for us as we market our fleet of self-driving, fully electric and shared vehicles “ stated Dan Ammann , CEO of Cruise.

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Among the systems covered by the partnership there will be Azure , the already known Microsoft cloud and edge computing platform, which will be implemented to allow GM to offer services dedicated to the diffusion of autonomous vehicles on large scale.

“Advances in digital technology are redefining every aspect of our work and life , including how we move people and goods. As Cruise and GM’s preferred cloud, we will apply the power of Azure to help them scale and mainstream autonomous transportation. “ said Satya Nadella , CEO of Microsoft.

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“Microsoft is a great addition to the team as we move towards a zero accident, zero emissions and zero congestion future. Microsoft will help us accelerate the commercialization of fully electric and self-driving vehicles from Cruise and will help GM gain even more benefits from cloud computing as we launch 30 new vehicles and readers globally by 2025 and we will create new businesses and services to drive growth “ stated instead Mary Barra , president and CEO of GM.

GM also welcomes Microsoft as its supplier with which to pursue various internal digitization initiatives, including collaboration systems, archiving, artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities.