GM joins hands with Microsoft for self-driving vehicles

CHICAGO, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- General Motors Co. (GM) and its autonomous partner Cruise LLC have forged a long-term strategic relationship with Microsoft Corp. to help commercialize self-driving vehicles faster, the Detroit News reported on Tuesday.

Cruise will use Azure, Microsoft's cloud and edge computing platform, to commercialize its AVs at scale, while GM also will use Microsoft as its preferred public cloud provider.

GM is spending 27 billion dollars on EV and AV technology through 2025 and plans to make 40 percent of its U.S. entries battery-electric vehicles by the end of the year, the local newspaper reported.

The relationship will "help GM realize even more benefits from cloud computing as we launch 30 new electric vehicles globally by 2025 and create new businesses and services to drive growth," said GM CEO Mary Barra in a statement.