• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, May 7, 2019

The money for self-driving cars keeps flowing.

General Motors’ Cruise division just received an equity investment of $1.15 billion from a group including Softbank, Honda and parent company General Motors.

The investment brings Cruise’s valuation to $19 billion. The autonomous driving division has secured capital investments totaling $7.25 billion, according to the company.

“Developing and deploying self-driving vehicles at massive scale is the engineering challenge of our generation,” Cruise CEO Dan Ammann stated in the investment announcement.  “Having deep resources to draw on as we pursue our mission is a critical competitive advantage.”

This is just the latest in a continuing stream of funding for autonomous vehicles.

• Toyota AI Ventures recently committed $100 million for early-stage startups to develop technologies relating to autonomous mobility and robotics markets.

• Ahead of its expected IPO, Uber received $1 billion from Toyota, Denso and Softbank, valuing Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group at $7.25 billion.

• Ford is investing $900 million in its southeast Michigan footprint as part of an $11.1 billion investment in global electric vehicles. The expansion includes the first autonomous vehicles being produced starting in 2021.

• Electric pickup-truck startup Rivian received an equity investment of $700 million in a round led by Amazon. The Michigan company is working on two vehicles, promising to deliver up to more than 400 miles of range with off-road capability. Amazon also participated in a $530 million investment raised by autonomous technology developer Aurora.

• Self-driving truck startup TuSimple raised $95 million to increase production, giving the company a pre-money valuation of $1 billion.

• Autonomous truck company Ike raised $52 million to further its development of self-driving trucks on highways. Investors included Bain Capital Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Fontinalis Partners, Basic Set Ventures and Neo.