Ford to invest USD1 bn in artificial intelligence startup

Ford will take a majority stake in Argo AI, an artificial intelligence company based in Pittsburgh, started in late 2016 by former Google and Uber employees who had worked on autonomous driving. The venture will employ leading engineers and "roboticists" to develop a "virtual driver" system, described by Ford officials as the "brain" of an autonomous vehicle. The setup is intended to give Ford a head start on competitors in the race to commercialize autonomous vehicles, said Ford executive vice president Raj Nair. "This is really unique in the industry," Nair said on a conference call with analysts. It will have the "speed and nimbleness of a startup, but also integrated into a full production development team."