General Motors Inc and Lyft Inc on Monday set out plans to develop an on-demand network of self-driving cars as the U.S. No. 1 automaker announced it would put $500 million into the ride-sharing service's latest $1 billion fund-raising round.
The Detroit-Silicon Valley crossover deal comes as automakers are working out how to respond to the rush of technology companies such as Apple, Alphabet and Uber - Lyft's biggest rival - to control cars of the future and likely reshape the global automotive industry.
Toyota and Ford, two of the world's biggest automakers, invited rival car companies to join them to counter the push by Apple, Alphabet and others into self-driving cars, or what the industry calls autonomous vehicles.
Major automakers are trying to prevent Silicon Valley from dominating the future of autonomous driving and ride-sharing, and are also investing as a way to see whether Lyft and Uber are on the way to making money, said Matthew Stover, automotive analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group.
