The automotive giants, Honda, has announced it will invest $2.75bn and hold a 5.7% stake in General Motors’ (GM) Cruise autonomous vehicle unit, Reuters reports.

The company has agreed to pay $750mn in advance for the minority stake in Cruise and will also contribute another $2bn over the next 12 years.

As part of the deal, Honda, GM and Cruise will develop autonomous vehicles in a joint venture with the aim of deploying ride services fleets around the world.

In a media briefing on Wednesday (3rd October), GM President Dan Ammann announced that 2019 remains the target for GM Cruise to unveil an autonomous ride services fleet.

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“The longstanding relationship we have with Honda will allow us to move very quickly in ramping up our efforts.”

Honda executive Seiji Kuraishi commented: “This investment is based on a shared vision and GM’s and Cruise’s superior technologies in this area.”

In order to ensure companies don’t fall behind in developing new technology such as self-driving vehicles, other automakers are creating similar alliances.

It has been revealed that Ford and BMW expect to launch autonomous vehicles by 2021.

Following the news, GM’s shares rose 3.5% in opening trade.