Ford Motor will invest in Argo AI, an artificial intelligence start-up formed in December. Ford Motor made an announcement of their plan to invest $ 1 billion in AI over the next five years. Argo AI will exclusively develop technology for self-driving cars for Ford first, and then license it to others.
Argo AI will be a subsidiary of Ford but will use its shares to lure robotics and engineering professionals from other companies. The company will have its roots in Silicon Valley. Ford now claims itself to be a provider of “mobility services” and sees these services to be more profitable that the business of making and selling cars. Mobility services have the potential to generate returns of around 20 percent, in comparison to 8 percent on making vehicles.
Ford is remaking its headquarters and main development center in Dearborn, Michigan. The automaker envisions the new campuses that will showcase green modes of transportation such as autonomous shuttles and electric bikes.
See Mike Isaac & Neal E. Boudette, Ford to Invest $1 Billion in Artificial Intelligence Start-Up, N.Y. Times (Feb. 10, 2017), https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/technology/ford-invests-billion-artificial-intelligence.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Ftechnology.