Jaguar Land Rover Invests $25 Million in Lyft

The race toward autonomous transportation has seen many companies join forces, and now Jaguar Land Rover has chosen Lyft as one of its partners. The automaker, through its new InMotion mobility services wing, has invested $25 million in the ride-hailing company. The partnership will help JLR develop and test its autonomous vehicles and give Lyft drivers access to a fleet of Jaguar and Land Rover models.

The investment will go toward Lyft’s expansion and technology plans. Lyft is currently second to ride-hailing giant Uber, but it may not be that far behind in the self-driving game now that it’s partnered with Alphabet’s Waymo. It’s unclear if JLR will benefit from that partnership, but the company believes teaming up with Lyft is the right move regardless.

“This is a strategic investment for both parties as we focus on innovating new mobility solutions for our customers,” said Hanno Kirner, Jaguar Land Rover’s executive director of Corporate and Strategy, in a release. “Collaborating with an expanding technology business like Lyft is going to help us both accelerate our ambitions.”

JLR’s InMotion division also recently invested in SPLT, a Detroit-based digital carpool service that works with Lyft to offer non-emergency medical transport. Last year, JLR began testing autonomous and vehicle-to-vehicle communication tech on public roads in the U.K. Lyft recently partnered with autonomous tech firm nuTonomy and has a standing partnership with GM that provides access to Chevrolet Bolt EVs and other vehicles.

Source: Jaguar Land Rover

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