Why Honda dumped Waymo for GM

Waymo LLC signage is displayed on the open door of a Chrysler Pacifica autonomous vehicle in Chandler, Arizona, U.S., on Monday, July 30, 2018. The Google offshoot is tinkering with pricing and finalizing its business model for autonomous vehicles, which includes a new effort to boost public transit. Photographer: Caitlin O'Hara/Bloomberg

Honda Motor Co and Waymo, the self-driving car unit of Alphabet Inc, were nearing a deal to jointly develop autonomous vehicles earlier this year when the Japanese company walked away, according to people familiar with the matter. 

Just a few months later, Honda bought into General Motors Co’s GM Cruise LLC unit instead, choosing a familiar partner over a tech heavyweight. There are any number of reasons to explain why the Waymo deal failed, but the most pressing issues underscore the complexities that technology companies and automakers face as they both team up and also compete for a piece of the future of transportation.