Lyft is on a partnership binge.
This morning, InMotion, a venture capital fund backed by Jaguar Land Rover, announced a $25 million investment in the ride-hailing company. The funding was included in Lyft’s $600 million Series G round in April.
As part of the deal, Jaguar Land Rover will supply Lyft with a fleet of Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles, while the U.K.-based automotive company develops and tests self-driving cars.
Lyft’s self-driving technology efforts are accelerating aggressively as the company doubles down on forging partnerships with industry leaders.
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A week ago, Lyft announced it was teaming up with Cambridge, Mass.-based self-driving car startup nuTonomy. The two companies plan to incorporate autonomous vehicles into Lyft’s network through a limited pilot program in which users will be able to hail a self-driving car from the app “in the coming months.”
Lyft has similar deals with Alphabet’s self-driving unit Waymo, as well as GM, the auto giant which bought self-driving startup Cruise Automation for more than $1 billion.
During a press call last week, Lyft CEO Logan Green said the company’s existing partnerships are non-exclusive. As it stands, Lyft is taking a collaborative approach while Uber is taking a proprietary one. While Uber employs teams of engineers to work on developing its own self-driving technology, Lyft is focused on building a dense, diverse network of partnerships instead.
Although it’s unclear how Lyft will work with its various partners to implement self-driving technology into its network, these collaborations will help better position the ride-hailing company to take on the market’s 800-pound gorilla.
