Ford has announced that it will invest $1bn into its driverless car segment by joining forces with Argo AI. Ford is now a major shareholder in Argo, the company founded by former Alphabet (Google's umbrella company) and Uber senior driverless car executives. The company will work independently from its new owners but will bring some of the best AI engineers and robotics experts to develop Ford's virtual driver system.
The need to get ahead of the driverless game comes after General Motors acquired Cruise Automation last year for over $1bn. Cruise is known for making an aftermarket kit to allow owners to turn their Audi A4 and S4s into autonomous vehicles for highway driving. Along with GM, Toyota has also pledged to invest $1bn into its Toyota Research Institute developing technology for autonomous cars and robot helpers around the house. These companies are battling it out to take a piece of Tesla's autonomous pie which can be used commercially and privately.
"The next decade will be defined by the automation of the automobile, and autonomous vehicles will have as significant an impact on society as Ford's moving assembly line did 100 years ago," said Ford President and CEO Mark Fields. In 2021, Ford intends on having a fully autonomous SAE level 4 capable vehicle for commercial use.