Acquisitions Seen in Self-Driving Market
October 25 2016 - 6:40PM
Dow Jones News
By Greg Bensinger
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. -- The largest companies with the aim of
creating self-driving vehicles will probably acquire smaller ones
rather than develop the technology in-house, said Niklas Zennstrom,
founder and chief executive of venture firm Atomico Ventures.
"It's really hard for an incumbent to transition themselves into
a technology company," Mr. Zennstrom said Tuesday at the WSJDLive
2016 global technology conference here. "You'll see more and more
acquisitions."
There have been some signs of consolidation already. General
Motors Co. this year bought Cruise Automation Inc. for around $1
billion and invested $500 million into Lyft Inc. with the goal of
introducing self-driving cars as soon as next year.
Stephen Jurvetson, partner at venture firm DFJ, said on the same
panel that Tesla Motors Inc.'s release of its own driver-assistance
software known as Autopilot pushed other companies to consider
entering the self-driving vehicle market.
Earlier at the conference, Lyft President John Zimmer said he
expects autonomous vehicles to represent the majority of trips on
the ride-hailing service.
Separately, when asked about the regulatory and operational
troubles of blood-testing firm Theranos Inc., in which DFJ was an
early investor, Mr. Jurvetson said, "There is not much we can do
when they fail." Mr. Jurvetson said his firm has had little
day-to-day dealings with Theranos.
Mr. Jurvetson chided The Wall Street Journal for its "ad
nauseam" coverage of the Silicon Valley company over the past year,
saying it was "relishing" Theranos's struggles.
Write to Greg Bensinger at greg.bensinger@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 25, 2016 18:25 ET (22:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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