General Motors Co. has just recently made a major investment in Lyft Inc. worth $500 million. The battle against Uber in the hailing wars is on.
GM's major investment has boosted Lyft's start-up valuation to $5.5 billion, giving it a concrete foothold against the global convenience in ride-hailing versus Uber Technologies Inc.
In recent years, hailing rides with the use of smart phone applications have given users a rise in convenience and Uber has maintained this global mark for quite some time. The investment made by GM is part of a billion dollar finance for Lyft. To date, it is the largest investment put on the table by an automaking company in this ride-hailing industry.
Lyft and GM is currently in development of a network for users to contact on demand available self-driving cars. The similar goal set by Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.
In addition to this investment, General Motors, being the largest auto-maker, is planning to offer Lyft drivers cars for short term rent in select cities and states.
Dan Ammann, GM's President, has released a statement upon joining Lyft's board. He expects the automotive industry to...
...change more in the next five years than it has in the last 50 and we obviously want to make sure we're at the forefront of that change.
The alliance with Lyft forecasts a long term investment with the company. The future of this modern ride-hailing industry has potential, in Ammann's eyes.
The United States may be the current and largest market but GM is planning to open a working relationship with Lyft's current international business partners. These partners include Ola in India, Didi Kuaidi in China and GrabTaxi in South East Asia.
This recent partnership between Lyft and GM is a hit for Uber - who has been trying to take the market in the United States, as reports have indicated.
