Ford has announced plans to invest $1 billion into an artificial intelligence start-up called Argo AI, as the company accelerates development of fully autonomous cars.
The $1 billion investment will be seeded over a five-year period, with the marque planning to launch a vehicle capable of driving itself completely by 2021.
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Founded by former Google and Uber engineers, who were working on self-driving projects at those companies, Argo AI will be tasked with developing the software platform for Ford’s production self-driving system. Ford engineers are to be placed within the start-up firm.
The technology which will be created by the collaboration may not be limited to just Ford vehicles either – the manufacturer says it could be licenced to others in the future as well.
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It’s the latest move in Ford’s push to become more than just a car company – CEO Mark Fields has regularly touted that Ford is now a “mobility” company too, and has ambitions to do more than just sell cars.
Last year, the company revealed that its high volume self-driving car touted for launch in 2021 could be used to operate an automated taxi service, with no drivers and no human controls.
Will Ford crack the self-driving car formula by 2021? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.