Lyft joining forces with Jaguar Land Rover in tech venture

NEW YORK – The next Lyft car you book may soon be a Jaguar or a Land Rover.

The British company behind the two iconic car brands announced Monday it was investing $25 million into Lyft 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 investment is from InMotion Ventures, a unit of Jaguar Land Rover that focuses on autonomous cars and other technology.

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

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.