Jaguar Land Rover tests driverless cars and ride-sharing in £19m Lyft deal

Jaguar Land Rover said it will invest £19m ($25m) in US taxi app Lyft to test upmarket ride-sharing services and driverless cars.

The British-based manufacturer will sell Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles to Lyft to use in its existing network, as well as working on new services that may be rolled out in the future.

The motor industry is betting that car ownership will fall in major cities in the long term as people switch away from traditional vehicle usage in favour of transport as a service.

Several car groups, such as America's General Motors and Germany's BMW, have struck deals with car-booking firms, in an attempt to develop these services as well as giving traditional carmakers a new potential sales stream.

The investment by the carmaker, owned by Indian conglomerate Tata, will be led by its InMotion unit, which develops driverless cars and other new services.

The carmaker's InMotion managing director Sebastian Peck said: "Personal mobility and smart transportation is evolving and this new collaborative venture will provide a real-world platform helping us develop our connected and autonomous services."

Lyft president and co-founder John Zimmer added: "Lyft envisions a future where shared mobility will transform cities and improve people's lives. This partnership will help us achieve that ambitious goal."

Lyft was founded five years ago and currently operates in 350 US cities.