Magna invests $200mn in Lyft

Leading Canadian mobility technology company Magna has invested $200mn in San Francisco’s Lyft as the two companies have announced a new partnership aimed at developing a new range of self-driving systems.

Aside from Magna’s investment into Lyft, the companies will jointly fund, develop and manufacture these systems that will then be deployed on Lyft’s own ridesharing network in the coming years.

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“There is a new mobility landscape emerging and partnerships like this put us at the forefront of this change,” said Swamy Kotagiri, Magna Chief Technology Officer (CTO).  “Lyft's leadership in ridesharing and Magna's automotive expertise makes this strategic partnership ideal to effect a positive change as a new transportation ecosystem unfolds.”

The agreements will include using Lyft’s Palo Alto, California-based engineering center, with Magna’s team joining Lyft’s onsite engineers.

“Together with Magna, we will accelerate the introduction of self-driving vehicles by sharing our technology with automotive OEMs worldwide,” said Lyft CEO Logan Green. “This is an entirely new approach that will democratize access to this transformative technology.”

The $200mn investment is part of Lyft’s $1bn financing round being led by Google’s investment arm CapitalG which values Lyft at $11.7bn.

Magna joins a pool of investors that have already bought into Lyft including Uber, Tesla, Alphabet, Blackberry and General Motors.