autoevolution
 

General Motors Self-Driving Car Subsidiary Origin Teams Up With Microsoft

At the present moment, Apple is looking for automotive engineers for Project Titan, the self-driving car that Tim Cook isn’t willing to confirm or deny. Expected to be announced in March 2021 as a collaboration with Hyundai, the autonomous vehicle from Cupertino already has a rival.
Cruise Origin 5 photos
Photo: General Motors
2020 Origin, the autonomous shuttle that goes "beyond the car"2020 Origin, the autonomous shuttle that goes "beyond the car"2020 Origin, the autonomous shuttle that goes "beyond the car"2020 Origin, the autonomous shuttle that goes "beyond the car"
Enter General Motors and Cruise, which have “entered a long-term relationship with Microsoft to accelerate the commercialization of self-driving vehicles.” The biggest of the Big Three in Detroit and the Redmond-based technology company will share “software and hardware, cloud computing capabilities, manufacturing know-how, and partner ecosystem.”

The thing is, I can’t be excited over this collaboration because Microsoft is known for huge mistakes done to lucrative projects. Take, for example, Windows Phone. I owned a couple of them, and I lied to myself that bugs are temporary. The joke’s on me, though, because the operating system and phone division have been put to rest, never to be revived again.

On the list of biggest Microsoft failures ever, we also have to remember Vista, the Kin handset that predated Windows Phone 7, the Zune media player that couldn’t live up to the iPod, and that annoying Office assistant named Clippy. The Redmond-based giant also tried to buy Nintendo two decades ago when the Xbox was under development. According to hearsay, the Japanese company laughed the American negotiators out of the deal.

In light of these flops, do you really believe that Microsoft will invest enough attention into Cruise? The problem doesn’t revolve around money, but the extremely clever people who manage the project and how their management will translate into a Hyundai Apple Car-beating automobile.

“Microsoft is a great addition to the team as we drive toward a future world of zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion,”
declared General Motors big kahuna Mary Barra. “Microsoft will help us accelerate the commercialization of Cruise self-driving vehicles and help GM realize even more benefits from cloud computing as we launch 30 new electric vehicles globally by 2025 and create new businesses and services to drive growth.”
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
press release
About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories