Ford Invests in Cloud Firm Pivotal in Self-Driving Car Push

Ford said Thursday it was investing $182 million (roughly Rs. 1,211 crores) into San Francisco cloud computing firm Pivotal as it deepens its work on connected and self-driving cars.

The number-two US automaker has been working with Pivotal since late last year on cloud-based services for Ford cars and drivers.

The announcement comes two days after rival Fiat Chrysler announced it was tying up with Google parent Alphabet on developing autonomous cars.

Ford said that the new investment in Pivotal would help further develop its FordPass online services and support for drivers, including monitoring and updating software crucial to vehicle performance.

It also plans to use Pivotal's next-generation cloud platform and analytics capabilities to support its development of self-driving cars and its autonomous shuttle vehicle program.

"Expanding our business to be both an auto and mobility company requires leading-edge software expertise to deliver outstanding customer experiences," said Ford president and chief executive Mark Fields in a statement.

"Our investment in Pivotal will help strengthen our ability to deliver these customer experiences at the speed of Silicon Valley, including continually expanding FordPass."