The automaker said Friday it would buy SoftBank Vision Fund 1’s equity ownership stake in Cruise for US$2.1 billion and invest an additional US$1.35 billion. General Motors has had a majority stake in the self-driving vehicle company since 2016. (The Logic)

Talking point: With one fewer institutional investor waiting to cash out—even one as generous as SoftBank—GM has eased Cruise’s pressure to go public and has more power to experiment with Cruise. Friday’s announcement said Cruise will continue to operate independently, though GM CEO Mary Barra added in a release that the firm is also part of its “integrated” autonomous-vehicle strategy. Meanwhile, Cruise is working on delivery vehicles for Walmart—and the retail giant is also a customer of GM’s Ontario-made BrightDrop electric delivery vans. “I think you can imagine when you have two companies with the same parent that overlap in these spaces, it unlocks a lot of potential,” BrightDrop CEO Travis Katz told TechCrunch in January, adding, “hopefully, we’ll have more to share about that in the future.”