Honda Invests $2.75 Billion in GM's Cruise Automation

General Motors and Honda have again announced that they will be teaming up to tackle a future technology. This time, Honda is investing a total of $2.75 billion into GM’s autonomous vehicles subsidiary, Cruise.

Honda has made a $750 million equity investment in Cruise and has promised to spend $2 billion over the next 12 years to help develop a purpose-built autonomous vehicle. The vehicle, say the companies, will be built for global deployment and manufactured at high volume.

Additionally, the companies say they will explore global opportunities for commercial deployment.

“This is the logical next step in General Motors and Honda’s relationship, given our joint work on electric vehicles, and our close integration with Cruise,” said General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Barra. “Together, we can provide Cruise with the world’s best design, engineering and manufacturing expertise, and global reach to establish them as the leader in autonomous vehicle technology – while they move to deploy self-driving vehicles at scale.”

SEE ALSO: GM to Expand Super Cruise Beyond Cadillac in 2020

This investment in Cruise follows June’s announcement that Honda would buy batteries for North American electric vehicles from GM. The EME 1.0 battery, says GM, is smaller, faster charging, and only a third the price of current EV batteries.

This deal is expected to be more of a two-way street, though.

“Honda chose to collaborate with Cruise and General Motors based on their leadership in autonomous and electric vehicle technology and our shared vision of a zero-emissions and zero-collision world,” said Honda Executive Vice President and Representative Director COO Seiji Kuraishi. “We will complement their strengths through our expertise in space efficiency and design to develop the most desirable and effective shared autonomous vehicle.”

Kyle Vogt, CEO of Cruise, argues in a statement that the addition of Honda to the team means will help significantly accelerate its autonomous vehicle’s path the reality.

“Honda will work with Cruise and GM to develop an innovative, space-efficient autonomous vehicle that delivers an exceptional experience and minimizes congestion on crowded city streets,” says Vogt. “Sharing our technology with a partner beyond our immediate GM family is the right move for our customers and their communities. It’s also the right move for Honda and accelerates our mission to bring self driving cars to as many people as possible.”

A version of this story originally appeared on GM Inside News.