Walmart Invests In GM's Self-Driving Car Co. Cruise

(RTTNews) - Walmart Inc. (WMT) plans to invest in self-driving vehicle company, Cruise, in which General Motors (GM) has a majority stake. This investment is part of the company's latest $2.75 billion funding round.

The decision to invest in Cruise is not a sudden one and comes five months after the companies began working on a pilot program to use the self-driving vehicles for Walmart delivery in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Cruise had in January announced the investment round at $2 billion. The investors included Microsoft, General Motors and other institutional investors. Walmart and other institutional investors are part of the second round of investment. The latest round of investment values Cruise at more than $30 billion.

In the Scottsdale, Arizona project, Cruise is operating a complete fleet of all-electric delivery vehicles, running on 100 percent renewable energy. Walmart said that this partnership with Cruise is part of its plans to reach the goal of zero emissions by 2040.

As part of the pilot project, customers place orders from their local Walmart stores and have their purchases delivered, contact-free, through Cruise's electric self-driving cars.

Commenting on the latest investment, John Furner, President and CEO, Walmart U.S., said, "This investment is a marker for us — it shows our commitment to bringing the benefit of self-driving cars to our customers and business. We're excited to join Cruise's already impressive partner and investor ecosystem with the likes of GM, Honda and Microsoft as we work toward pioneering this emerging technology."