Ford to invest $1 bn in artificial intelligence start-up

Ford will invest $1 billion over five years in an artificial intelligence startup with the aim of developing an autonomous vehicle by 2021, the auto giant said. 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 commercialise autonomous vehicles, said Ford executive vice president Raj Nair. "This is really unique in the industry," Nair said on a conference call with analysts.