---
title: "General Motors Invests $500 Million in Ride Service, Lyft"
description: "This is the largest investment an auto manufacturer has made into a ride-hailing service, and it proves how much transportation has been changed by tech."
date: "2016-01-05"
modified: "2016-01-05"
authors:
  - name: "June Javelosa"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/javelosa-junegmail-com"
url: "https://futurism.com/general-motors-invests-500-million-ride-service-lyft"
categories:
  - "Robots and Machines"
tags:
  - "general motors"
  - "investment"
  - "lyft"
  - "ride-hailing"
---

# General Motors Invests $500 Million in Ride Service, Lyft

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/lyft.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://www.lyft.com/" target="\_blank"\>Lyft\</a\>\</em\>*

##### Lyft

[Lyft](<https://www.lyft.com/>), a ride-hailing service that allows individuals to use an app to match with local drivers at the tap of a button, has long touted the merits of having fewer cars on the road. Ultimately, they think that the future of transportation is *less* individual drivers and *more* travel options. Now, with the help of [General Motors (GM)](<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/general_motors_corporation/index.html?inline=nyt-org>), the tech start-up is set to reach that goal—thanks to GM’s investment of $500 million.

But this goes beyond financial backing. The partnership now sees GM and Lyft working together for the development of an on-demand fleet of self-driving cars, an area of research that companies such as Tesla, Google ,and Uber have already devoted a lot of resources into.

![Google's Self Driving Car/ Michael Shick](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Google_self_driving_car_at_the_Googleplex-300x199.jpg>)
*Google's Self Driving Car/ Michael Shick*

In addition, GM will now also be working with Lyft to build a network of short-term car-rental hubs all over the United States, allowing people who do not own their own vehicles to use a Lyft-owned vehicle to drive for the service and earn money.

This also means that Daniel Ammann, GM’s President, will be joining the board of San Francisco based Lyft.

##### Network

“We strongly believe that autonomous vehicle go-to-market strategy is through a network, not through individual car ownership,” [John Zimmer, president of Lyft,](<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/05/technology/gm-invests-in-lyft.html?_r=1>) said in an interview with the *New York Times*.

The $500 million investment also marks the single biggest direct investment an automobile manufacturer has made into a ride-hailing service company in the US. This milestone is a testament to how much consumer automotive habits have been affected and changed by technology in recent years. And with the increasing convenience and ease-of-travel that ride-sharing companies continue to offer commuters around the world, automobile manufacturers are now trying to keep up with, what seems to be, a decline in car ownership.