The sad decision has been made regarding Argo AI, founded by Bryan Salesky and Peter Rander in 2016. Argo AI is shutting down due to Ford and Volkswagen withdrawing support.
Argo AI is testing its autonomous vehicles in eight cities around the world. In addition, the company announced in May that it has begun testing fully self-driving vehicles in Miami and Austin. Argo AI, which has partnered with Walmart to test its driverless delivery service, has unfortunately come to the end of the road.
Argo AI, the world-renowned autonomous driving company, is shutting down
The duo, who founded the company called Argo AI after taking part in the autonomous driving programs of Google and Uber, made an ambitious entry into the autonomous vehicle industry. Strengthened by Ford’s investment in 2017, Argo AI develops level 4 autonomous driving software. It is worth remembering that there are 5 different levels for autonomous driving, and the first and second levels are called the driving assistance system.
Making a statement on the subject, Ford president Jim Farly said, “With the investment we made in 2017, we were aiming to launch Level 4 autonomous driving technology with advanced features by 2021. Since the expected progress could not be made, we focused on the 2nd and 3rd level driving systems. We think that level 4 autonomous driving technologies will not bring any profit to our company in the short term. However, we believe companies have a long way to go for fully autonomous vehicles.” made statements.
According to TechCrunch news, Ford and Volkswagen will employ some of the 2,000 employees involved in projects at the company. Employees who do not receive a job offer will leave the company with severance pay.
Waymo, owned by one of the industry leaders, Alphabet, has been testing robotaxis services for paying customers in various US cities since 2018. However, due to reasons such as local regulations and slow technology development, the process does not progress as desired.
The joint action is characterized as an indicator of the pressures faced by firms in the autonomous car industry, which have large financial investments and are yet to generate meaningful revenue returns. Analysts state that automakers tend to turn to projects that will bring high profits in a short time.
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