Wal-Mart Invests in Self-Driving

Somewhat unusual, but Wal-Mart is making a considerable play here.  Cruise is only indicating a self driving Taxi for now.    Possibilities for delivery?

Walmart invests in self-driving startup Cruise

Cruise says it's about two years from commercial launch. We've heard that before.

 By Timothy B. Lee  in ArsTechnica

Walmart invests in self-driving startup Cruise

Walmart is investing in self-driving startup Cruise as part of a massive $2.75 billion investment round in the company—an expansion of the $2 billion round announced in January. That original announcement featured three other big names: GM, Honda, and Microsoft.

Cruise was originally an independent startup but was acquired by GM in 2016. GM has poured billions into the company and has increasingly sought additional financial support from outside investors.

Recently, Cruise has been signaling that it is just a couple of years away from launching its technology commercially. Earlier this week, Cruise announced that it would launch a self-driving taxi service in Dubai in 2023. Cruise CEO Dan Ammann then told Bloomberg that he expected to launch a commercial service in San Francisco prior to launching in Dubai.  ..."

GM and Microsoft Partner on Self-Driving Cars

 Quite some competition in the space.

Microsoft partners with GM to make self-driving cars a reality  By Tristan Greene, in TNW

Driverless car startup Cruise, a GM subsidiary, today announced the finalization of a two-billion dollar equity fund from primary investors Microsoft, Honda, and GM.

Leading off: Microsoft’s money is the big ticket item here for Cruise. While the company’s valuation has skyrocketed to about $20 billion from investors, netting one of big tech’s trillion-dollar whales has pushed GM stocks up nearly seven percent.

But the cash isn’t the only thing in play here. Per a Reuters report, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says the company will provide cloud services for Cruise:  ..... '

Autonomous Order Delivery by Wal-Mart

Even Walmart is doing tests of autonomous delivery.

Walmart, Cruise Launch Pilot to Deliver Orders via Self-Driving Cars

Kyle Wiggers in VentureBeat

General Motors-backed autonomous vehicle startup Cruise has announced a partnership with Walmart to deliver orders from a Scottsdale, AZ, Walmart store to local customers' homes, starting early next year. Customers will be able to place orders to the store and have them delivered in one of Cruise's electric self-driving Chevy Bolts. If the pilot goes well, a Cruise spokesperson said, the company will mull launching on-demand delivery with other retailers in the future. Walmart has forged driverless vehicle delivery partnerships with other automakers and startups. Also, through an alliance with Postmates and Ford, Walmart stores in Miami-Dade County, FL, are delivering goods using prototype self-driving cars. ... '