JLR buys minority stake in autonomous tech firm CloudCar

07 Jan 2017

UK-based car maker Jaguar Land Rover has reportedly purchased a minority stake in car technology firm CloudCar as it looks to new mergers as well as investing in high-tech automobiles.

The country's biggest carmakers are working on building up connected cars which will take the support of the internet to improve customers' driving experience, reports Reuters. The connected cars will communicate with each other so that driving becomes hassle-free and safe, hence giving tough competition to American rival Google.

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) parent company Tata Motors in collaboration with Ford went through an experimental phase where the connected cars were examined on grounds like speeding technology, cutting accidents, automated safety measures and so on. The test was the first such trial in Britain. After the success of the experiments, JLR confirmed buying a stake in CloudCar.

The car technology-based enterprise CloudCar has been developed to improvise voice activation mode, increase technological aspects in the car build-up, etc, eventually making the world's first fully autonomous car. The firm had earlier been supplying software to JLR, but this time with its improved technology, India-based Tata Motors showed a keen interest in buying a stake in CloudCar.

At present, JLR is planning to invest near about £12 million in CloudCar shares, and plans to work with other such firms. Also, the eventual need to be a part of hundreds of driver-focused global cloud services would stand as an excellent example of co-operation thus improving outcomes for customers worldwide.