General Motors Inc and Lyft Inc on Monday set out plans to develop an on-demand network of self-driving cars as the U.S. No. 1 automaker announced it would put $500 million into the ride-sharing service's latest $1 billion fund-raising round.<br />The Detroit-Silicon Valley crossover deal comes as automakers are working out how to respond to the rush of technology companies such as Apple, Alphabet and Uber - Lyft's biggest rival - to control cars of the future and likely reshape the global automotive industry.<br />Toyota and Ford, two of the world's biggest automakers, invited rival car companies to join them to counter the push by Apple, Alphabet and others into self-driving cars, or what the industry calls autonomous vehicles.<br />Major automakers are trying to prevent Silicon Valley from dominating the future of autonomous driving and ride-sharing, and are also investing as a way to see whether Lyft and Uber are on the way to making money, said Matthew Stover, automotive analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group.
