Ford plans to invest 1$ billion into an artificial intelligence software called Argo. The 1$ billion investment will be paid over a five-year period.
According to Auto Express, Argo Artificial Intelligence is founded by former Google and Uber engineers. The same engineers who worked on self-driving projects at those companies. Their task is to develop the software platform for Ford’s production self-driving system.
Ford engineers are also placed within the start-up firm. It is still unclear, but the technology that is going to be created by the team might not be limited to just Ford vehicles. With this move, Ford is trying to be more than just a car company. Last year, Ford announced that its high volume self-driving car that is planned to launch in 2017 could be used to operate an automated taxi service, without drivers and human controls.
Business Insider reported that Ford CEO has a major fear of self-driving cars. There are large numbers of automakers and tech companies that are developing autonomous vehicles and are trying to be the first in the market. But according to Ford CEO Mark Fields, the companies should be very careful and try not to push the vehicles out too soon.
With that kind of pressure the companies have, they can push an unfinished product that can lead to catastrophic events. That kind of fear has driven Ford to take a different approach with its self-driving cars. Currently, on the market, many automakers are pushing out level 3 autonomous systems in their vehicles. These cars can drive autonomously in some scenarios, like on the highway, but they still require a human to take control in certain situations.
Ford, on the other hand, is planning to launch its first self-driving car with level four autonomy. This means that their vehicles won’t have a brake pedal, accelerator, or steering wheel and will be able to operate in a predetermined geographical area without human intervention.
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