A group of investors including the software giant Microsoft and the automaker Honda have participated in a $2 billion round for Cruise, a well-known self-driving company controlled by the automaker General Motors (GM). Both companies participated along with GM and other unnamed institutional investors, with the round valuing Cruise at $30 billion post-money.

The fresh $2 billion investment cements Cruise’s position as one of the highest-funded autonomous driving companies. With the new round, Cruise has now raised a whopping $7.3 billion in venture funding since it was founded.

Under the terms of the investment, Cruise and its parent General Motors have entered into a commercial partnership with Microsoft to work towards the commercialization of self-driving vehicles. To that, Microsoft’s Azure cloud will be adopted as the primary cloud provider for Cruise and General Motors ‘ self-driving efforts.

Another participant in the new round, Honda, already had a working relationship with Cruise before the new round, meaning it furthers the partnership between both companies. Honda is a major investor in Cruise, having previously committed $2.75 billion over 12 years in funding for the company.

“Advances in digital technology are redefining every aspect of our work and life, including how we move people and goods,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. “As Cruise and GM’s preferred cloud, we will apply the power of Azure to help them scale and make autonomous transportation mainstream.”

“Our mission to bring safer, better, and more affordable transportation to everyone isn’t just a tech race – it’s also a trust race,” Cruise CEO Dan Ammann added. “Microsoft, as the gold standard in the trustworthy democratization of technology, will be a force multiplier for us as we commercialize our fleet of self-driving, all-electric, shared vehicles.”

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