GM to buy sensor-tech firm Strobe to boost self-driving car push

No. 1 U.S. automaker General Motors Co said on Monday itwould buy Strobe Inc, which uses LIDAR technology to helpself-driving cars identify objects at a distance, to boost itspush into the market for self-driving vehicles.

LIDAR is one of the major sensor technologies used in autonomous vehicles. There is fierce competition between large automakers to bring autonomous, or self-driving, vehicles to market first.

Fully self-driving vehicles are expected to hit the market in a limited form by around 2020. GM and its U.S. rival Ford Motor Co have both publicly stated that they aim to have fully self-driving cars on sale by 2021.

"Strobe`s LIDAR technology will significantly improve thecost and capabilities of our vehicles so that we can morequickly accomplish our mission to deploy driverless vehicles atscale," Kyle Vogt, chief executive of GM`s Cruise Automation unit, said in a statement.

GM did not say how much it was paying for Strobe.

Vogt said last week that the unit was making "rapid progress" toward deploying self-driving cars.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)