Lyft receives $25 million investment from Jaguar Land Rover
Owned by India’s Tata Motors, Jaguar Land Rover has recently invested $25 million into car company Lyft. With Uber’s continual controversial way of working, ranging from sexism to increased concerns surrounding CEO Travis Kalanick’s ability to lead, it will be news which is bound to send Uber reeling.
The investment is part of Jaguar Land Rover’s mobility services arm InMotion and joins the recent $600 million the company has raised funding. The investment includes the company’s aim to supply Lyft with vehicles in order to join the race to build self-driving cars and undertake autonomous vehicle testing.
Sebastian Peck, InMotion’s Managing Director has said, “We are excited to collaborate with a leading platform like Lyft not only on developing premium mobility solutions but also devising innovative solutions to the transport problems Jaguar Land Rover’s customers face.”
“Personal mobility and smart transportation is evolving and this new collaborative venture will provide a real-world platform helping us develop our connected and autonomous services.”
InMotion is one of many companies taking an interest in investing in Lyft’s services and autonomous driving ambitions. Waymo and nuTonomy have also expressed interest and placed investment in Lyft’s operations, with nuTonomy working in collaboration with InMotion to develop autonomous cars in Boston through embedding nuTonomy’s technologies.
Such developments are in stark comparison with Uber, who are currently at loggerheads with Waymo, with senior figures at the company now aiming to persuade Kalanick to take some temporarily leave due to ongoing increased professional and personal scrutiny.
