Ford Motor has done a deal with the upstart self-driving car firm Argo AI. Argo is made up of defectors (so to speak) of the self-driving teams at Google and Uber. These clever people have Ford’s handshake to invest as much as $1 billion US over the next five years in the Pittsburgh tech start up. The firm that Henry built will now be the largest shareholder in Argo AI Ford chief executive officer Mark Fields said the investment is in line with previous announcements on planned capital expenditures. Argo AI, which focuses on artificial intelligence and robotics, will help build what Ford calls its “virtual driver system” at the heart of the fully autonomous car Ford said last year it would develop by 2021. “With Argo AI’s agility and Ford’s scale we’re combining the benefits of a technology start up with the experience and discipline we have at Ford,” Fields said at a press conference.
