The recent announcement that the car giant General Motors (GM) has entered into an alliance with Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) in the project for the manufacture of autonomous cars has stimulated the market. In the Cruise initiative, which is designing self-driving vehicles capable of playing the function of robotaxis and robcurriers, the two companies took part in another $2 billion investment round. The explanation for the swift investor response to the announcement of a deal with Microsoft was that GM’s autopilot segment could be taken to a whole new level by the IT giant. In terms of cloud server power, Microsoft is one of the world’s top three giants, along with Amazon and Google. And until recently, the company was not actively interested in the quest for electric vehicles, supplying all developers with its remote Azure services on a joint basis.
The fact that Microsoft has entered into a venture with GM suggests that the Cruise project is extremely mature, as well as the IT company’s readiness to participate in a new market. With respect to free money, the resources of Microsoft are nearly limitless: it has around $17 billion in cash in its reserves alone (with a planned investment of $1 to $2 billion in robotics). Again, this speaks in favor of Cruise and GM, whose nearest rival is now Waymo, a Google subsidiary, which has already secured a permit in California to take robotic cabs on public roads.
A convergence stage around some of the most promising ventures has penetrated the self-driving vehicle industry. In addition to Cruise (GM+Microsoft), Waymo (Google), and Zoox (Amazon), Nuro is also an independent player with a stable of reputable clients and partners: Kroger supermarkets, Domino’s pizzeria, and CVS, the largest pharmacy chain in the U.S.
In the future, one of the above developers of autonomous vehicles may become the norm for autopilot platforms, but Cruise has taken the lead at the moment, endorsing the shares of GM. The time for admission into the stock of the carmaker is now very dangerous. The shares are past their respective equal prices. If you bet on Cruise’s potential growth, in the next 5 years, it might contribute about $3.5-4 billion to GM’s capitalization, or about 5 percent to the share price. This rise has already won the sector back. It is no more than $55 apiece to buy GM shares, a price that has already been surpassed by the GM’s stock.
