JLR ties up with Lyft in US for autonomous car testing

The next Lyft car you book in the US may soon be a Jaguar or a Land Rover.

Britain's biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover has announced that its mobility services business, InMotion Ventures, will invest $25 million in US ride services company Lyft Inc to help develop and test technology for self-driving cars.

The company behind the two iconic car brands, owned by India's Tata Motors, announced today that it was investing to help the ride-hailing business expand and develop technologies. As part of the investment, Jaguar Land Rover agreed to supply a fleet of its vehicles

The collaboration will provide a ''real-world platform helping us develop our connected and autonomous services,'' InMotion Managing Director Sebastian Peck said.

The auto industry and technology companies are racing to develop self-driving technology, which in the years to come is expected to transform transportation by cutting costs of ride services and changing the way people buy and use cars.

InMotion's investment follows its recent seed investment in SPLT, the Detroit-based digital carpool business, which works with Lyft to provide non-emergency medical transport.

InMotion earlier invested in SPLT, a Detroit-based digital carpool business. SPLT works with Lyft to provide non-emergency medical transport.

Lyft announced earlier this month that it was forming a research partnership with self-driving startup nuTonomy. The companies plan to look at how passengers book and route a self-driving car and how they interact with it.

San Francisco-based Lyft operates in 300 cities. It has also partnered with General Motors to research autonomous ride-hailing.