Ford invests $253M in Pivotal

[blazerdude20]

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/ford-microsoft-just-sunk-253-113000502.html

[Biker16]

 

GM and Ford lean on Lyft and Pivotal for help in developing self-driving cars

Lyft

A Lyft vehicle is spotted at Los Angeles International Airport. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Paresh Dave, Samantha Masunaga

Two miles apart in Palo Alto, workers from Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. are hustling to establish a role for their companies in a future where consumers don't own cars and the vehicles steer themselves.

On Thursday, it became ever more clear that the Michigan automakers and their West Coast outposts won't be going at it alone. They'll be depending big time on software-developing neighbors in Silicon Valley and San Francisco.

Ford announced an $182.2-million investment in Pivotal Software Inc., a San Francisco company whose programs are already used by the likes of Lockheed Martin and Allstate Corp., to quickly develop their own computer applications.

“Expanding our business to be both an auto and mobility company requires leading-edge software expertise,” Ford Chief Executive Mark Fields said in a statement.

And officials at General Motors and ride-hailing app Lyft Inc. said they had made significant progress toward developing self-driving Chevrolet Volt cabs for use at the automaker's Warren, Mich., campus by the end of the year. That could put Lyft on a faster course than larger rival Uber Technologies Inc., which hopes to bring self-driving cars to passengers by 2020.

[aneekr]

Daimler AG's Mercedes Me mobile app was developed using platforms and methodologies from Pivotal Software.