Argo AI is an artificial intelligence and robotics company that has an ambitious aim. The aim is to launch a fully autonomous self-driving car by the end of the year 2021. In order to help them achieve this goal, Ford has decided to invest a whopping $1 billion in the company.
The Move
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_autonomous_cars
The announcement came on Friday and industry insiders are calling it a bet that may or may not pay off even though the world is largely preparing for the self-driving revolution. Argo AI is still in its infancy having been founded only a few months ago in Pittsburgh by Brian Salesky and Peter Rander, two budding alumni of the robotics program from Carnegie Mellon University which is a prestigious school in Pittsburgh.
Autonomous vehicles are coming to a street and car dealership near you. Some people believe the people that are most against these types of vehicles are the drivers society needs to worry most about. You have to know your limitations. Your driving acumen does not match up well with a computers. Not even NASCAR drivers can drive as stellar as a computer.
More and more automobile companies are following this pattern where the financial muscle of a conglomerate is merged with the innovative approach of a tech savvy startup that are all in for experiments and dexterity. In addition to funding capacity, these automobile giants also offer a market and large scale manufacturing capacities.
What is interesting is that Ford was already working on autonomous vehicles. They must feel two approaches is better than one.
The Goal
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pestoverde/16862351751
It is to be noted here that Ford is already working very hard on launching its own autonomous vehicles by the end of the year 2021 as just mentioned. This partnership could accelerate the process and help Ford engineers to achieve their goals sooner and better.
Ford is not the only company that is making moves in the startup area. Arch rival Chevrolet, who if you can remember received a bailout and still owes America billions of dollars, recently purchased Cruise Automation for $581 million.
Trust
Ford CEO Mark Fields laid out an ambitious vision last year for its self-driving journey, and Argo AI deal marks a much needed and important milestone in that journey. What makes Salesky and Rander so important for Ford? Salesky is a former Googler who worked very closely with the team on self-driving cars, and the project is now known as Waymo.
Rander on the other hand was closely working with Uber, the ride hailing taxi service provider who is also known to be gearing to launch a fleet of self-driving taxis in the near future. This is when the two of them met and deduced to leave their high profile jobs to find Argo AI. Smart move, Ford.
But why leave major companies who have everything set up? Some people could be suspicious about that. Hopefully Ford signed them to contracts so to prevent them from doing that to them.
Virtual Driver
https://www.flickr.com/photos/iwasaround/26685190944
Raj Nair, Ford's chief technical officer and head of product development, says that it is essential to grab talents like these before someone else does. The core technology of Ford which will act as the eyes, ears, senses, and brains of the autonomous vehicle being developed by Ford is called the "virtual driver".
This also comes as a sense of realization on part of Ford that they are in need of more talent and outside help when it comes to developing the tech behind the self-driving car. When asked, Salsesky and Rander said that they are hoping to employ more than 200 employees by the time 2018 ends. The employees will be offered stock in the subsidiary which will form part of the salary and compensation package.
If Argo achieves success as Ford, Salesky, and Rander hopes it will, these shares should help each employee at Argo AI not ever have to worry about being on some socialized government health care plan that has a website that does not work.
Argo not only benefits by getting financial backing that Ford provided, it also will also offer a lot of technology, car components, training centers, and other resources that it has at its disposal. This is golden news for Argo as well.