Technology and Car Companies Are More Intertwined Than Ever
The line between the technology and automotive industries is blurring. The rise of such as Uber and Lyft means that transportation is being tied ever more closely to your cell phone, while autonomous driving technology is turning your car into a computer. But these developments are expensive: Carmakers’ R&D budgets almost doubled to $89 billion between 2006 and 2016.
Fiat Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne thinks it's ‘nonsensical’ for carmakers to spend billions of dollars developing competing yet largely identical systems. To share some of the risk—and the cost—the incumbent automotive giants and their would-be disruptors are teaming up in an ever-growing, ever more complex series of alliances.
Fiat Chrysler, for instance, has paired up with Google to develop 600 self-driving minivans, while is teaming up with Volvo and Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler. Google has, in turn, invested in , as have Toyota, Microsoft and Tata, owner of Jaguar Land Rover. General Motors has invested in , whose partnership with is now in question after the Chinese company made a series of deals with Apple and . Ford has been spending to catch up with competitors, throwing money at a series of startups to add to Chairman Bill Ford's investment in .
Acquisitions
Acquirer
Acquired
Otto
Uber
Bing Maps
GM bought Cruise Automation for $1B.
Cruise
Automation
GM
Sidecar
Uber China
Didi
Argo
Ford
SAIPS
Chariot
Paycash
Europe
Car2Go
RideScout
Daimler
TaxiBeat
VW, BMW, and Daimler partnered to buy Nokia’s HERE maps.
MyTaxi
Hailo
Athlon Car
Lease Int’l
BMW
Nokia HERE
Paypoint
VW
Mobileye
Intel
Harman Int’l
Samsung
Sylpheo
Renault-Nissan
Karhoo
Investments
Investor
Recipient
DriveNow
Scoop
BMW
Skurt
Nauto
Toyota
Getaround
Tata
Uber
Microsoft
Uber and Didi have invested in each other after teaming up in China.
Apple invested
$1B in Didi.
Apple
Didi
Baidu and Ford each invested $75M in Velodyne Lidar.
Baidu
Velodyne
Lidar
Ford
Civil Maps
Lyft
GM
GM invested $500M in Lyft.
Starship
Technologies
Tiramizoo
Daimler
Flixmobility
Quanergy
Samsung
Valens
Delphi
Otonomo
Silvercar
Gett
VW
Mobvoi
VW invested
$300M in taxi-hailing
company, Gett.
DFKI
Bosch
Tetravue
Honda
Grab
Communauto
Koolicar
Peugeot
TravelerCar
Autobutler
Partnerships
Uber
Volvo
Uber has a $300M joint venture with Volvo to develop a fully autonomous car by 2021. It’s also partnered with Daimler to build autonomous cars.
Daimler and Matternet have a joint venture to make drones.
Matternet
Daimler, VW and BMW partnered
to buy Nokia HERE.
Daimler
VW
BMW
Intel
Mobileye
Delphi
Renault-Nissan
Baidu, NavInfo, AutoNavi and Bosch partnered to provide real-time maps for autonomous driving in China
Baidu
NavInfo
AutoNavi
Bosch
Nirenberg
Neuroscience
Ford
Lyft
Didi
Fiat Chrysler
Peugeot
nuTonomy
Acquisitions
Acquirer
Acquired
Otto
Uber
Bing Maps
Cruise
Automation
GM bought Cruise
Automation
for $1B.
GM
Sidecar
Uber China
Didi
Argo
Ford
SAIPS
Chariot
Paycash
Europe
Car2Go
RideScout
Daimler
TaxiBeat
MyTaxi
Hailo
Athlon Car
Lease Int’l
BMW, VW and Daimler partnered to buy Nokia’s HERE maps.
Nokia HERE
BMW
Paypoint
VW
Mobileye
Intel
Harman Int’l
Samsung
Sylpheo
Renault-Nissan
Karhoo
Investments
Investor
Recipient
DriveNow
Scoop
BMW
Skurt
Nauto
Toyota
Getaround
Tata
Uber and Didi have invested in each other after teaming up in China.
Uber
Microsoft
Apple invested
$1B in Didi.
Didi
Apple
Baidu
Baidu and Ford each invested $75M in
Velodyne Lidar.
Velodyne
Lidar
Ford
Civil Maps
Lyft
GM invested $500M in Lyft.
GM
Starship
Technologies
Tiramizoo
Daimler
Flixmobility
Samsung
Quanergy
Delphi
Valens
Otonomo
Silvercar
Gett
VW invested
$300M in taxi-
hailing company, Gett.
VW
Mobvoi
DFKI
Bosch
Tetravue
Honda
Grab
Communauto
Koolicar
Peugeot
TravelerCar
Autobutler
Partnerships
Uber has a $300M joint venture with Volvo to develop a fully autonomous car by 2021.
Uber and Daimler partnered to build autonomous cars.
Uber
Volvo
Matternet
Daimler and Matternet have a joint venture to make drones.
Daimler
Daimler, VW and BMW partnered to buy Nokia HERE.
VW
BMW
Intel
Mobileye
Delphi
Renault-Nissan
Baidu, NavInfo, AutoNavi and Bosch partnered to provide real- time maps for autonomous driving in China.
Baidu
NavInfo
AutoNavi
Bosch
Nirenberg
Neuroscience
Ford
Lyft
Didi
Fiat Chrysler
Peugeot
nuTonomy
Investment
Partnership
Personnel move
Getaround
Fiat Chrysler
Tata
Toyota
Volvo
Microsoft
Nauto
Honda
In talks
Uber
Grab
Uber and Didi invested in each other after teaming up in China.
Volvo and Uber have a $300M joint venture to develop a fully autonomous car by 2021.
Otto
Bing Maps
GM invested $500M in Lyft and bought Cruise Automation for $1B.
Ford and Baidu each invested $75M in
Velodyne Lidar.
Baidu
Lyft
Ford
Velodyne
Lidar
GM
Argo
Cruise
Automation
Nirenberg
Neuroscience
NavInfo
SAIPS
Didi
AutoNavi
Chariot
Sidecar
Uber China
Civil Maps
Bosch
Ford is among five investors who provided $6.6M in seed funding for Civil Maps.
Daimler and Uber partnered to build autonomous cars.
Apple
Tetravue
Apple invested $1B in Chinese ride-hailing company Didi, which partners with Lyft.
Daimler and Matternet have a joint venture to make drones.
Matternet
BMW
VW
Intel
Daimler
Mobileye
Paycash
Europe
Starship
Technologies
Paypoint
Skurt
Scoop
Car2Go
Tiramizoo
Silvercar
Renault-Nissan
DriveNow
RideScout
Flixmobility
Gett
Sylpheo
TaxiBeat
Quanergy
Mobvoi
Delphi
Karhoo
MyTaxi
DFKI
Hailo
Valens
VW owns a stake in the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and invested $300M in taxi-hailing
company, Gett.
Samsung
Otonomo
Athlon Car
Lease Int’l
Harman Int’l
Communauto
Peugeot
Koolicar
VW, BMW, and Daimler partnered to buy Nokia’s HERE maps.
TravelerCar
Autobutler
nuTonomy
Nokia HERE
Investment
Personnel move
Partnership
Getaround
Fiat Chrysler
Tata
Toyota
Volvo
Microsoft
Nauto
Honda
In talks
Uber
Grab
Uber and Didi invested in each other after teaming up in China.
Volvo and Uber have a $300M
joint venture to develop a fully
autonomous car by 2021.
Otto
Bing Maps
GM invested
$500M in Lyft
and bought Cruise
Automation for $1B.
Ford and Baidu each invested $75M in Velodyne Lidar.
Baidu
Lyft
Velodyne
Lidar
Ford
GM
Argo
Cruise
Automation
NavInfo
Nirenberg
Neuroscience
SAIPS
AutoNavi
Didi
Sidecar
Chariot
Uber China
Civil Maps
Bosch
Ford is among five investors who
provided $6.6M in seed funding for Civil Maps.
Daimler and Uber partnered to build autonomous cars.
Tetravue
Apple
Apple invested $1B in Chinese ride-hailing company Didi, which partners with Lyft.
Daimler and Matternet have a joint venture to make drones.
Matternet
BMW
VW
Intel
Daimler
Mobileye
Starship
Technologies
Paycash
Europe
Paypoint
Skurt
Car2Go
Tiramizoo
Scoop
Silvercar
Renault-Nissan
RideScout
Flixmobility
DriveNow
Gett
Sylpheo
TaxiBeat
Quanergy
Mobvoi
Karhoo
MyTaxi
Delphi
DFKI
Hailo
VW owns a stake in the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and invested $300M in taxi-hailing company, Gett.
Valens
Samsung
Athlon Car
Lease Int’l
Otonomo
Harman Int’l
Communauto
Peugeot
VW, BMW, and Daimler partnered to buy Nokia’s HERE maps.
Koolicar
TravelerCar
Autobutler
nuTonomy
Nokia HERE