GM's Cruise division gets $2.25B funding from SoftBank

GM will also invest an additional $1.1 billion in Cruise.

General Motors' Cruise division has landed a $2.25 billion investment commitment from the SoftBank Vision Fund.

"The GM Cruise approach of a fully integrated hardware and software stack gives it a unique competitive advantage," says SoftBank managing partner Michael Ronen. "We are very impressed by the advances made by the Cruise and GM teams, and are thrilled to help them lead a historic transformation of the automobile industry."

The investment will be made in two tranches, starting with $900 million and adding another $1.35 billion only when Cruise AVs "are ready for commercial deployment." GM will also invest $1.1 billion in Cruise Holdings upon closing of the transaction.

The $2 billion in initial funding is expected to push the project to "commercialization at scale" by 2019.

An important milestone on our journey to safely deploy self-driving cars at scale. Incredibly proud of what the @Cruise team has accomplished in just a few short years! https://t.co/10Zoc4xXl7

— Kyle Vogt (@kvogt) May 31, 2018