SAN FRANCISCO – Ford Motor Company will spend $1 billion to take over a robotics startup to acquire more of the expertise needed to reach its ambitious goal of having a fully driverless vehicle on the road by 2021.
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The big bet announced Friday comes just a few months after the Pittsburgh startup, Argo AI, was created by two alumni of Carnegie Mellon University’s robotics program, Bryan Salesky and Peter Rander.
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Ford is counting on Salesky and Rander to hire about 200 employees during the next year while overseeing the development of the technology required for a vehicle without a steering wheel or brake pedals to drive itself. Ford CEO Mark Fields wants the robotic car done by 2021.
The $1 billion investment in Argo will be spread over a five-year period.
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